


The Rage of an Evans

by Liola



Series: Umigakure Founding Chronicles [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Naruto
Genre: Gen, Multi-Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:22:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25109941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liola/pseuds/Liola
Summary: Life had taught him to only rely on himself. Real family is something he had never known. He hadn't even realized he wanted it. But once he had it, he was going to protect it, even if it killed him. The rage of an Evans is a truly scary thing. AU, Cross-posted on FFN
Series: Umigakure Founding Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818625
Comments: 36
Kudos: 248





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Warning!: This work contains swearing, violence, child abuse, and minor gore. You will only be warned once.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim any rights to the characters, concepts, or other content of the amazing works by J.K. Rowling or Akira Amano. I merely put into words ideas I had if those two shared a universe. This disclaimer will only appear in the Prologue but applies to the whole work.

**Prologue**

The man only known as Verde woke up with a start, threw on his coat, and rushed out of the room so fast he nearly left an afterimage. One of his warning systems was blaring loud enough to wake the dead, let alone him. There were only few alarms to alert the whole base like this – first among them the intruder alert. So, he was understandably in a hurry to get to his monitoring room to find out what was going on.

Mentally cursing his short legs Verde rushed past the labs where his men were frantically packing up lab equipment and the most important experiments. He only spared a short glance and nod for them to make sure there was no panicking – they WERE professionals after all for goodness sake. He didn't bother breaking his stride or otherwise giving instructions. They knew what to do, there had been drills and it certainly wasn't the first time this year the alarms went off with good cause.

As he rounded the last corner the monitor room came into view. It was still closed and there was no change from the standard alarm since he woke up, meaning his guards had not found reason to activate evacuation protocols. This did not alleviate his worry however, rather it just meant the potential intruders could be good enough to evade further detection. Having finally reached the monitor room he quickly took out his access card, swiped it across the access panel, punched in the 24-digit code on the fingerprint sensitive keyboard, and let the iris sensor do its job. The security might seem excessive but it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you after all.

As the foremost expert in flame tech as well as robotics and considering his various successes in weapon development in addition to other accomplishments Verde had to be very careful with the security of his lab if he didn't want to be robbed, kidnapped or otherwise taken advantage of like many had tried in the past. His current size and appearance definitely did not serve as a deterrent, nor could he use his status as one of the Arcobaleno as such. He wasn't an adequate fighter before the curse so being perpetually stuck in the body of a 1-year-old toddler did not make his lacking physique any less of a hindrance.

He pushed past the doors as soon as they slid open and headed straight for the central access panel only he could use. The 3 guards in the room briefly glanced at him as he made his way inside to ascertain who had joined them before quickly turning back to their separate monitors to continue their work. Verde nodded in approval. "Report", he demanded shortly without breaking stride.

Without looking up from the screen in front of him Ben, his head of security answered. "We don't know what caused the alarm. No intruders, none of our guys sounded it. All emergency sensors are still green. There shouldn't be a way for the intruder alert to go off without triggering a sensor so I didn't send the evacuation order yet. Emergency exits have been secured and 2 teams are sweeping the corridors in irregular intervals. They each have one Tech with them to check if any sensor is broken. It could also just be a system malfunction but I doubt it, sir. We check and maintain it too often for that. Do you want us to clear out just in case? I've sent the signal to our guys over in Sicily to start preparations as a precaution."

Verde frowned. As Ben gave his report he checked into his own access panel and had the system call up the alarm log only accessible through this particular console. He had the sensors checked every day so the chance of hardware failure was very low. Which meant the cause was one of the few sensors his security team didn't have clearance to monitor. His eyes flew over the data log and finally stilled over one line and his heart leaped into his throat.

He stared at the screen in shocked disbelief, not daring to trust the words displayed on it. Unblinkingly he read the results again and again, completely ignoring his surroundings until finally, the voice of Ben snapped him out of his stupor.

"Sir?", Ben asked in confusion at his employers' uncharacteristic behaviour, "Are you feeling alright?"

Verde swallowed, closed his eyes briefly, and took a deep breath. He struggled briefly to reign is his rampaging thoughts and put his professional mask back into place.

"Yes", he finally answered before turning back to the screen to ascertain the results one last time. "I'm fine."

"Ben. Turn off the alarms. All green. There is no intruder. Have the base packed up anyway. We are relocating to Sicily tomorrow, we had planned to leave in a month anyway. This way the others won't have to unpack again. Leave your deputy to coordinate the move. The both of us are going to take a trip to Britain. There are some people I need to have a _word_ with."

As he was talking the earlier disbelief had quietly changed into cold fury. How dare they. He should never have trusted him regardless of what his mother had wanted. This just proved it all over again. His brother owed him an explanation. It had better be a really good one.

He doubted it would be good enough. After all what could be a good enough reason to lie to his face about his own grandson's death?


	2. Chapter 1 - Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean the tags already contain some warning but I guess I should include it regardless...
> 
> !!Trigger warning!! (Spoiler)
> 
> Abuse and attempted murder in this chapter. Read at your own discretion.

**Chapter 1 – Death**

Today he would die, Boy mused sardonically. He was sure of it. His uncle was going to kill him, he was that mad. He had never seen Vernon in this mood before. Anger usually coloured his face and neck pruce, making it look like he would explode any second. His rage was always loud, explosive, and followed by a trashing that often left a bone or two broken and not few bruises all over his torso, maybe even painful rashes on his back and legs if his uncle felt like using the belt that day.

This was different. Vernon looked normal, relaxed even, if not for the fingers that were white from the vicelike grip he had on the steering wheel. That and the strange glint in his eyes were the only indicators of his uncles' fury.

Boy huddled into the corner of his seat, trying his hardest to look as unresisting and chastised as possible. He was scared. He didn't hesitate to admit it. This unknown new side of his uncle scared him like nothing else he could remember did. He wasn't scared often anymore. He had learned the rules, he knew what misdeed, imagined or not, warranted what punishment. He was resigned to his punishments. He strictly followed the rules his relatives made for him, after all just because he knew he would be punished regardless, going along with their demands meant the punishments were less frequent. He did not like pain any more than anyone else, regardless of how much of a freak he was.

Boy and freak, those were the only names his relatives ever called him. Descriptions, like he was a pest they didn't even bother to name. He was of course aware this wasn't normal or right, he had learned a lot more from the constantly running TV in the house than his aunt realized even if she never let him watch it. He could still hear. The problem was that… just because he knew what his name was not, did not mean he knew what his name actually WAS.

Regardless of his curiosity, he had never found out. Outright asking just called for another beating once his uncle returned from work and no answer to show for it, so he had simply refrained from asking again. So obviously when he had been asked on his enrolment day, he had not been able to tell the teacher his name. The resulting phone call about the 'disrespect and troublemaking' of the creepy white-haired red-eyed kid by said teacher resulted in the current scene.

Vernon had to get off work early and sort things out with the principal in a hurry and then promptly grabbed Boy by the arm, dragging him outside to the car, all the while reassuring the staff he'd 'have strict words' with his nephew, that they should not expect him back until he was sure the boy's attitude had been fixed.

Boy had practically been thrown into the car and had not moved since, except to huddle as far into the corner between the door and seat as he could. Boy knew the way he looked wasn't normal, nor were some of the things that seemed to happen to him. He was quite pale and never managed to get a tan, only sunburn. He had colourless, almost transparent hair like some old people do, and not only on his head either, but all his hair. His creepy blood-red eyes, he was repeatedly told made him look even more freaky than normal and served to make him stand out even more. It made people uncomfortable and somewhat prejudiced, Boy had found on more than one location.

That wasn't the only weird thing about him though. Impossible things kept happening around him whenever he was particularly emotional. Like yesterday he fell off the climbing wall in the old playground, that no one really visited, and instead of breaking something, he had just landed softly on the ground as if he'd merely jumped from a bench. Luckily, no one had seen it and only he knew about that one. Or that time aunt Marge visited with her scary dog, that liked chasing him, and he had somehow ended up on top of a tree before it could have mauled him. These were just the most recent instances, all of which earned him an extra hard punishment if anyone was around to witness them. He wasn't even going to mention the fact he always healed from his punishments in no more than a week, regardless of how severe they ended up being.

Boy was quite familiar with the road home from school. His aunt had made him walk it repeatedly, so he wouldn't embarrass upstanding citizens like them by getting lost and being late to school. Which was why, when Boy carefully peeked out of the car window and did not recognize where the car was going, he had come to that conclusion. He was resigned. He was going to die today.

Vernon Dursley had had it with the blasted boy, damn that meddling old bastard to hell. He would not put up with the freak and the trouble he caused for his family any longer. Regardless of the threats and empty promises the old fool Dumbledore always used. They had tried abandoning the boy at an orphanage, in the forest, at the police, even in the bloody church and always, ALWAYS that bastard came by with the boy not even a day later, his eyes twinkling unnaturally as he brought him back.

The rightful punishments he gave the freak didn't seem to work at all. Didn't even keep the freak from polluting his family for a few days. Oh no, Lord help them should they ever be left alone. He got right back up… used his unnaturalness even more frequently instead, creating trouble for his family even though they fed and clothed him! Gave him a roof over the head, if unwillingly! Not a grateful bone in his body, the lazy brat! Embarrassing them in front of his precious son's teachers! The nerve!

'Well no more!', Vernon swore quietly, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. If he couldn't get rid of the freak the nice way, then he'd have to take drastic measures instead to ensure the peace and wellbeing of his family. He would just have to get rid of him in a more permanent way. Something not even freaks could recover from.

Luckily one of his more questionable acquaintances had recently abandoned a warehouse outside the city. He would have it torn down soon. And with his friend's… work… there was no way he would report a corpse to the cops. Plus, there was not a single building around it for miles. No one to witness anything. In short, it was the perfect place for his undertaking.

The longer they spent in the car, the surer Boy grew of his judgment. He found he didn't mind what was to come as much as he thought he would. In fact, he might even look forward to it. No more beatings, no more chores, no more yelling, no more fear or hunger… no more abuse. Dead people didn't feel any of those things. When you died it was all over, or so the nice pastor had said one Sunday morning when he was still allowed to go to church. Before his uncle found out he enjoyed the visits and thus obviously put a stop to them.

The car shook as Vernon slammed it shut after getting out and snapped Boy out of his contemplation. Having calmed down slightly as he resigned himself to what was about to happen he quietly observed his surroundings. It was bright outside, with only a few clouds in the sky, probably not even lunchtime yet. The car had stopped in front of an old 1-story building that looked like an old storehouse for a farm. One wall was nearly completely taken up by a sliding door. He didn't see any windows or doors except for that, so Boy figured it was probably used as a garage for vehicles. He idly wondered if there were still vehicles inside but quickly concluded there shouldn't be. His uncle wouldn't risk it.

Vernon ripped open the door Boy was still half-leaning against and dragged him outside by his arm. In the other hand the large man held a baseball bat, one his son had thrown out during one of his tantrums the previous evening. Luckily, Boy hadn't bothered wearing a seatbelt or his arm might well have been ripped off by the force his uncle manhandled him with. He didn't resist, letting himself be dragged along as his uncle quickly strode onwards. His legs were dragging on the ground, getting scratched up from pebbles and branches along the road. He didn't move or fight back, there was no point. He had tried before, but Vernon was too strong for him. It had only made things hurt worse in the end. He could try to run but his short legs wouldn't be able to outrun his uncle's long strides for long, despite all the fat slowing the man down. Even though Vernon quite resembled a walrus with his round figure and mustache, he was fast if he wanted to be. Plus, he hadn't had anything to eat in at least three days, so his body wouldn't be able to support running for long.

Thus, Boy just let himself be dragged along and thrown against the back wall of the building. His head hit the stone with a 'thunk', making the world swim around him as he slumped to the ground. Before he could even shake his head to try and clear it, he already received the first kick to his gut.

"Freak!", Vernon bellowed at him furiously, "You've done it now. I won't put up with your unnaturalness in my home anymore! Regardless of the threats you freaks use against my family! Let's see how they'll force you back on us once I'm through with you! We will move far away come morning, where they won't come to bother upstanding members of society like us anymore! I should have done this from the beginning!"

Each of his sentences was followed by a swing of the bat at Boy's prone body or a kick aimed at his torso. He had instinctively curled up as soon as it started and closed his eyes, wishing it was over already. He hadn't dared to make a sound after an initial groan at the unexpected kick. He knew that'd only prolong his suffering. Any noise he made would only enrage his uncle more.

He tried hard to just ignore his surrounding, ignore the pain and retreat inside his head like he had done on various occasions, but the words his uncle was shouting at him made him stiffen in shock. His blood rushed through his ears as he processed what Vernon was implying. There were others like him! The brief hope and excitement he felt at that revelation quickly extinguished as he continued that thought. Those others didn't want him either. They had apparently forced his relatives to take him in! No wonder they treated him as they did! No wonder he never had a home with them! Was that why they hated him? Had they tried to give him up, but he had been forced back there? So, the others hated him too or they wouldn't have done it. Which meant no one cared for him after all.

At that moment Boy hated them. Hated his relatives for treating him like they did. Hated the Others who were like him and still pushed him away. Hated all the ones he had asked for help only to be disappointed again and again and brushed off as a troublemaker. Hated the world for being unfair and not giving him a chance and most of all he hated himself for being so weak, being unable to protect himself and make it better without help.

At that moment, as he started seeing black spots and heard the crack of another broken bone, he suddenly found his resolve.

He would show them. He didn't need any of them! He would live, he swore to himself and he would pay them all back. Wouldn't going quietly like this just be like finishing their job for them? He was powerless now and not very smart, but he could learn. We would learn and when he was ready - they would regret what they did to him!

But first, he had to survive the day. He knew how to survive. Slowly, as the hits continued raining down, he relaxed his body, forced his muscles to grow limp like a puppet that had its strings cut. He breathed shallowly, his eyes half-closed he forced his body not to react as he was lifted off the floor by a particularly ruthless strike. 'I am a stone', he chanted in his head, his whole focus on breathing as quietly as possible. 'Stones are not alive, stones cannot be killed.'

Chanting phrases like this always helped him out. After a while, any pain would be gone, injuries would stop bleeding and his body could move again. It had helped in the past and it would help now. He would not die like this! He had faith in his unnatural ability. It would definitely help him to survive.

Unnoticed, by either of them, his eyes had started glowing as he continued chanting to himself. His faith and desperation having accomplished their goal in calling upon the one thing he had of his parents. A runic circle flashed in each of his eyes as the last protections his parents left on him worked to keep his body alive, to heal him and shield him from harm. But as desperately as they worked, Vernon was still inflicting a lot of damage on the child, more than the protections could heal. The runes were charged only with a limited amount of power after all, they weren't designed to repeatedly heal a person but just to protect them long enough for help to arrive. And so, not being able to finish their task, they shattered.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish" Vernon muttered as he left with one last kick to the freak's head. He was satisfied to have completed his task. They could finally banish the nuisance from their minds for good.


	3. Chapter 2 - Awakening

Chapter 2 - Awakening

It was dark. He couldn't see anything, he wasn't in pain either. It felt nice, comforting, like he imagined a hug would feel like. His limbs felt incredibly sluggish though, and he couldn't move them at all. He felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Was this what death felt like? If so, it was nice. He vaguely remembered fighting it, fighting the darkness. Had he failed after all? Even if he had, did it matter? He couldn't gather the energy to care. He was beginning to lose feeling in his limbs, there was only numbness. Slowly he closed his eyes and was prepared to surrender to the darkness, accept its embrace, and escape the pain he knew his body was surely in.

Memories flashed past his eyes, of Vernon, of pain, of harassment. As they did something was building up inside him, something that was reluctant to accept things as they were, something warm, hot even. It made his hairs stand on end like the pricking of static electricity unloading. It was small at first but as he went over more and more of his life, it just continued to grow stronger until it felt like sentient lightning raging through his body, wanting to fight the unfairness of the world outside. But it couldn't get out. Something blocked it, chained it, didn't let it be free like it should be. The black chains mockingly prevented the lightning from escaping, only tightening further as it struggled against its binds. He let it, helped it, pushed against the blackness that suddenly felt wrongwrongWRONG. He needed to get out, needed to breathe, feel, see.

As he grew more frantic the green lightning kept growing in strength and swelling in size as time tickled by slowly, until finally, after what felt like ages, small exhausted warm red tendrils of energy, that had since been focused on healing, preserving, seemingly chanting 'lifeliveLIVE', started attacking the blackness. It hissed and tightened and lashed out, but it was not strong enough to defeat both of its foes and finally shattered, being swallowed and gleefully, vengefully absorbed by the explosion of green that resulted.

All of this happened in no more than a minute and with a loud cough Boy's body twitched. His eyes shot open and he gasped for air like a drowning man as he shakily raised his hand only for nausea to come crashing down on him like a tidal wave. He rolled over and retched painfully, temporarily ignoring the world spinning around him.

He coughed out the last mouthful of bile and leaned back against the pleasantly cold stone walls behind him, that eased his aching head somewhat. It was quiet. Vernon had apparently left. Good. He didn't think there would be any hope if he hadn't left yet. As he concentrated he could make out the sound of tires on gravel as it carried his uncle further away.

The world had slowly stopped spinning as he sat there, and he could focus properly once again. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his senses inwards.

His power was still raging through him, he could feel it just under his skin. He raised his hands in front of his eyes, not really shocked to see they were scratched and bloody, some of his fingers were broken. But most importantly the green lightning lightly dancing above them, poking into his wounds curiously, easing his hurts. He could also faintly make out the red energy that felt different, warmer and more soothing, flexible and less wild and instinctive than the green one, had started healing him but he knew subconsciously it wouldn't be enough to make sure he didn't die.

Then what could he do? He instinctively knew his lightning couldn't heal, it felt hard, defensive, unyielding, not fit for something like healing. He still poked it mentally, trying to guide it to some of his breaks. He thought it might be possible to hold the bones together with it, so the red tendrils could heal them better. His lightning seemed to understand his intention and leaped to work like an eager puppy, assisting, and strengthening. The tendrils seemed to automatically concentrate on the gravest injuries, so he left them to do as they wanted. He let his instincts guide his actions, he himself didn't truly know what his powers were capable of. He could only hope and experiment like this.

He wondered who had locked his power up in the first place. But it could only really be the Others. If they had powers like him they could lock them up as well. Angrily he balled his hands into fists. So not only did they abandon him, but they also locked up his power before that, so he wouldn't be able to defend himself, to heal, to survive. They most certainly wanted him dead.

His relatives always said his parents were freaks too and that they died in a car crash. If his powers were just like his parents' then that was improbable, given how he could already heal this fast without truly knowing how to use his power. So, did the Others kill them too? No, he couldn't and wouldn't draw conclusions without researching it first. But he resolved he would be very careful with whom he trusted.

Instead of continuing his train of thought he decided to search for the black energy that had chained his powers. He was determined to make sure it didn't come back. He didn't want his power to be locked up anymore. If he was going to be bullied and hurt because of it, he wanted to be able to use it.

Boy closed his eyes and felt for the flow of energy in his body. He recalled how his lightning had swallowed the blackness as it exploded outwards, so he carefully immersed his consciousness inside it, following it through his arms, his legs and up his torso until he reached his heart. There he found the source of the red energy. A concentrated ball of red light. The lightning crackled around it like an electrical field, letting tendrils of energy out, but nothing in.

The energy output seemed restricted somehow. Curiously he inspected it closer. There, behind the green strands of lightning was a tight net of sickly yellow energy. There were a few holes in it, but it felt nauseating, tight, intruder, wrongwrong get it OFF! Instinctively knowing he had to get rid of it Boy reached out for his power, both the lightning and the red tendrils and tore into the net, viciously stretching and tearing, but the net wouldn't budge.

Calming his anger at the further restrictions of his power, Boy tried another approach. His lightning had absorbed some of the black chains earlier. Maybe it could do the same to the net. Even if not he would try everything he could think of to get that thing off the red core. He carefully guided his lightning to surround the net from outside and willed it to swallow it, convert it. His lightning struggled, pulling at the net, fighting the yellow power, but it wasn't enough. He willed the core to help, to push against the nauseating energy, grind against it, clean it, make it their own to control.

With his powers working in tandem, the net finally started to tear, to lose colour. After a short while, it dissolved into near-transparent strings that were flowed into his core. It flared briefly as it absorbed the new energy, brightening and strengthening itself, repairing the damage it had sustained from its constant struggle against its bindings. Mesmerized, Boy simply stared at it for a while. It was beautiful. Like a blood coloured sun inside his heart. Thumping along with his blood flow. As he watched, long tendrils of red flowed off the core, playfully, happily winding around his lightning and flowing through his body, healing and strengthening all it could.

He was relieved it seemed, that his core had access to enough energy to heal him now. 'Take that!', he thought giddily, 'I used your own power to make myself stronger!'

He bet his tormentor hadn't thought he would use his bindings to strengthen himself this way. But this was no reason to get a big head. He didn't know much about his power yet, so he couldn't risk confronting the Others, who had experience and knowledge on their side. He just hoped his rash actions in getting rid of the net hadn't alerted his enemies of his actions. Speaking of which, he would have to move, hide, and soon. Or they would most definitely find him. He didn't delude himself into thinking he wasn't somehow being monitored. How else would that 'Dumbledore' person know to get him? If he didn't find a way to hide from their means of detection, they would reapply his bindings and take him back to his relatives. His uncles' words seemed to imply they would, even if his relatives didn't want him back. He could not let that happen. He didn't know when the last time was his uncle had tried to rid himself of him, he didn't remember. Either it was when he was still a baby, or they had the means to make him forget about it. He couldn't risk that happening.

So, resolving to continue exploring and most importantly securing his powers at a safer place, Boy opened his eyes and carefully inspected his surroundings. It was still light out and by looking at the shadows he could tell not a lot of time had passed since Vernon left. Few weeds had started growing on the pebble stone path around the building, meaning it had not been abandoned for long. Ahead of him were a few meters of tall grass growing next to the road leading up to underbrush and finally a forest. He couldn't tell how big that was, nor did he know what might live in there, so it did not serve as an adequate hiding place for however long he'd need to heal fully and get his power under control. Even now, when he coaxed it to remain inside his body he could still see sparks and small flashes traveling over his skin.

To his right and left it didn't look much different and on the other side of the building he remembered seeing a similar view, however the forest should clear after the first bend in the road, so it didn't reach very far. He was reluctant to explore though, one of his legs was still broken in more than one area and he had fractured his hip as well, he couldn't risk aggravating his injuries by moving a lot.

As he hobbled along the wall, using his hands to steady himself despite the wounds on them, he came across a piece of floor that was smoother than the rest. Curiously he cleared away the stones and dirt on top. It seemed like an old manhole cover. It wasn't made of metal, but out of uneven stone, seemingly designed to look inconspicuous.

This was probably as good a hiding place as he was going to get, even if he shuddered at what kind of dirt and insects would live down there.

Stone was very heavy though. Recalling how his lightning could help hold together bones he coaxed it into his arms, willing it to help him open the cover. He was able to lift it easily.

Bracing himself for the smell, he carefully placed the cover to the side and took a cautious whiff. It wasn't as bad as he feared. It mainly smelled like old dust, but he could make out the stink of rot as well. Boy peered into the darkness, trying to find out how to make his way down. He quickly found some rusty metal handholds meant for maintenance. Before he could doubt himself further, Boy swung his legs over the edge and securely stepped on the protruding metal, testing it against his weight. Satisfied that it would hold him, he lowered himself inside.

Once he was sure he wouldn't fall, he picked up the cover with one hand and settled it back above his head, enclosing himself in darkness. Now for the hard part. He had to cover it back up so it wouldn't be noticed. He called up both of his powers and pictured what he wanted to happen, willing them to help with his task.

Nothing happened.

Swallowing hard, he thought of pebbles and dirt rolling onto the cover, hiding it from few. He fixed the images in his mind, focusing on it, silently muttering 'move' repeatedly. After a moment he heard a slight sound from above. Not like steps, but from something like a small stone falling. Smiling at his success, he continued for a few minutes until he felt there should be enough. He hoped it had worked, he couldn't check without having to do it all over again and he could tell his core seemed strained from the unfamiliar action. He wouldn't be able to do it again it seemed.

Boy closed his eyes and softly breathed in an out a few times, trying to settle his core. His life-threatening injuries had been healed so he shouldn't use it too much or it'd exhaust itself. He didn't know what would happen then, but it couldn't be good.

As the tendrils of red were slowly coaxed back into the core, the aches of his body became more and more apparent. He drew in a sharp breath and set his jaw. He could endure this, had endured worse.

His eyes were slowly accustoming themselves to the darkness. It helped that his lightning sparked over his skin now and again, brightening up his surroundings a little. Luckily it didn't flash over his eyes or he'd probably be blinded instead.

Cautiously he climbed his way downwards, one foothold at a time. For a while, the only sounds he could hear were falling drops of water and his own breathing and steps. The metal started being damp and, in a few cases, where it was damaged, he had no choice but to support himself with his other leg as well. But he endured.

He hadn't yet reached the bottom, when he noticed an opening on his right, just within reach. It was pretty small, and he doubted an adult could fit inside comfortably, maybe a woman if she was petite enough. He was getting tired, so he stretched out his hand to see if it would make a good place to rest. It did. When he touched the edge it was dry, meaning it wasn't a wastage canal. The dust, now caking his bloody hand, told him nothing had passed through it for at least a month.

A small flash of lightning brightened the space up enough for him to see into it. He would have to crawl inside to fit, but there was enough room for him to lie down. Dirt would definitely get into his wounds though. He knew how bad infections could be, so he wanted to avoid that.

Chewing on his lip in thought, he prodded his lightning. It had been acting as a shield for his core earlier, maybe it could shield him from this too. It did.

Coaxing and carefully pushing his power to cover his hands and knees, he pulled himself into the small opening.

He was right. It was dry and, except for some dust, relatively clean. Weird. Tentatively he crawled forward. After a few meters, he could make out the outline of an exit. So, this tunnel lead somewhere after all. It was dark, but It ended on even ground, so he didn't have to worry about falling at least. A quick survey confirmed there wasn't any sign of activity on the other side. No sounds, no light, and the dust in front of the opening was undisturbed.

Thus, Boy warily got out of the tunnel. He was in a room. It wasn't big, merely a few square meters. There were two rows of empty shelves on either side of him and a door just ahead. He fought the instinct to bolt back into the small tunnel. Logically this would make a better place to stay. There was dust everywhere, meaning no one had been here for a while. He gathered himself and deliberately approached the door, trying not to kick up the dust so he wouldn't choke. He tried the handle.

It was locked.

He let out a breath of relief – now he knew there would be a warning before someone could come in. Hopefully enough for him to bolt through the tunnel. It was probably used to circulate some air inside, now that he thought about it. There wasn't a light switch close to the door, if there was, it was probably outside only. He wondered if the electricity was even working anymore at all.

Another, more through, exploration of the room, confirmed his earlier findings. He selected a space on the floor within easy reach of the tunnel and sat down against the wall.

Now he only needed to find a way to hide his power.

Just containing it didn't seem to work, or at least he couldn't make his powers do that right now. His earlier experiment with his lightning had shown that. His core also hadn't retreated completely.

He shuddered as he remembered their struggle with the sickly yellow net. He could understand his power, He would want to move around as well, if he had been caged like that.

Maybe… yes. What if he made a net himself? Something he could control as he wanted, just not right where the core was. He could make the net inside his skin – that way his powers could move inside his body and help him all they wanted but there would be nothing outside to detect!

It made sense. He could use both powers to construct it, so they didn't pass right through.

And thus, he did.

It was hard. He knew he probably didn't have much time before the Others came, but this wasn't something he could rush. His powers didn't like being restrained. But one knot at a time he managed to do it. His powers were contained! This however also meant his light source was gone.

He found he didn't mind. The darkness was a constant in his life, so he was used to its company.

Boy didn't know what to do now. He had no food or water, he didn't know if his precautions would keep the Others from finding him, he could only hope it was enough. His eyes stung, and he teared up as all the events of the day truly registered in his mind. He was alone.

Angry at where his thoughts were taking him, he slapped his own cheeks and forcibly thought of something else. He would take it one step at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day and he couldn't hope to solve all his problems at once. He was safe for now.

As he stared into the darkness, finally reassured he had done all he could, the pain and exhaustion finally came crashing down on him.

His frame slumped against the wall and he let out a soft groan. He ached in places he didn't even know could hurt. His body was unused to his powers, so using as much of it as he had today had tired him. He felt some tendrils of his core lazily drifting through his body, getting back to work on healing.

His lightning had retreated as well, but since he hadn't yet found the source, he wasn't sure where it went. He knew he needed to rest. If he fought it now, then he would just collapse later and the chance of him waking up if something approached would be lower.

So, he got into a slightly more comfortable position against the shelves, hugged his knees to his body to keep warm, and surrendered to his fatigue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again!
> 
> I'm glad so many of you left kudos, thank you so much. 
> 
> Let me know what you think of the chapter or if there's anything unclear, yea?
> 
> See you soon!


	4. Chapter 3 – [title at the end of the chapter... for spoiler reasons]

Boys' consciousness returned slowly. He felt weird. Something was different. Very different.

He wasn't in pain. Huh… peculiar. He didn't recall a time when he had not been hurt in some way. Even the constant low thrum of discomfort of untreated injuries that had healed wrong was missing. It was disconcerting, foreign but… he didn't dislike it. In fact, the more he revelled in it the more he liked it. Not being in pain was… nice.

But… something was wrong. He went over what happened earlier? Yesterday? He didn't know how long he was out. The fact he could still remember was a good sign. The position he slept in meant he should have felt some discomfort from sleeping against the hard stone, while sitting even. That there was none worried him. He frowned as he turned his senses outward and blinked his eyes open.

He stared at the grey concrete ceiling above him. He was lying on something soft. As soft as he imagined his relatives' beds to be, not that he had ever been able to lie on th-… Oh no… He could see. There was near-absolute darkness in the room he had hidden in. He had been found! But… by whom? He was sure he wasn't back with his relatives or he'd have woken up curled up on his cot. Which meant it wasn't the Others who found him. Then who had? And what did they want with him?

Instead of panicking, as would be expected of him in an unknown situation, he felt oddly calm. His mind seemed clear though. No use dwelling on it, he needed to know where he was. He took a deep breath to calm his racing thoughts and sat up. Still no pain.

He was on a queen size bed inside a typical bedroom. To his left, there was a wardrobe and some lockers made of dark wood and a white door. It stood slightly open and he could see a tiled floor and the edge of a sink. A bathroom then. Just ahead was a dresser with a wide landscape picture hanging above it showing some farmland and a town in the distance.

As he turned his head to his right he froze.

There, in a chair right next to the bed was a toddler staring back at him. He had spikey olive-green hair and clear dark eyes framed by round black glasses that looked at him in… worry? A green pacifier was hanging on a cord from his neck. He wasn't quite sure what it was made of, some type of glass or crystal maybe. It was certainly not toddler friendly though.

The strangest thing about him were his clothes however, he was wearing a light green button-up shirt, black tie and a lab coat. Totally not anything one would dress a toddler in… but they looked natural on this one.

Boy blinked and tilted his head, not knowing how to react.

The toddler smiled wryly at his obvious scrutiny and confusion before opening his mouth to speak.

"So, you woke up. How do you feel? Any pain or discomfort? The doctors assured me you had recovered nicely and only needed another day or so of rest. That was yesterday."

He didn't sound like a toddler. Even his voice was way too deep. His speech was too clear and his vocabulary too good. Not that he himself hadn't done weirder things than talk deeply.

"I-…", he rasped, his voice cracked, and he had to cough.

"Ah yes… here." He was handed a glass of water.

With a thankful nod, he slowly gulped it down. He licked his lips and handed the glass back.

"Thank you. I feel great actually." He hesitated on how to continue. He wasn't sure what to tell this toddler.

"They gave you some mild calming medication as well. It shouldn't affect your judgement, so we gave you some to make introductions easier. I apologize if it offends you."

That explained his lack of panic, at least. Usually, he would have been way more suspicious, his flight instincts kicking in for self-preservation. His 'family' had made it quite clear he was not to interact with strangers, lest he corrupt them somehow. Thinking as far… he found he didn't really mind the meds, his head had never felt this clear before and he enjoyed having a conversation with someone for once, not being talked at, but talked _to_.

"Uhm… what's going to happen now?", he finally asked. He had never been allowed to ask questions before, so he wasn't sure if he would get an answer this time. He didn't know about his situation. If it turned out to be worse than what it had been like before, he'd have to escape. And that required a plan. And plans required information. Which meant he had to ascertain if he'd get answers or be more… sneaky to get that information.

"That depends on what you want to do.", the toddler simply stated. "I will tell you about your situation and then give you a few choices. You can, of course, choose none of them and tell me an alternative instead. If it's feasible, I will help you achieve that. Sound good?"

Surprised he would get a say in the matter, Boy nodded and fixed his full attention on the toddler. Even if he was being lied to about having a choice, he would still glean some information. He didn't know a whole lot about body language, but he could usually tell when people were lying. It wasn't reliable, but it was better than nothing.

The toddler seemed to sense his scepticism and closed his eyes for a moment. He gathered his thoughts, took a deep breath and, decision made, opened his mouth to start.

"First of all, before I start explaining I want your word you will let me finish before you do anything. Please don't interrupt me, I'll probably explain much of what you want to know anyways. Is that alright?"

Boy stared at him for a moment, before nodding in acknowledgement.

"Thank you. I promise I will only tell you the truth as I know it. Some of this I can't prove to you, but I will show you proof for what I can."

The boy relaxed slightly. Proof could be falsified, he knew, but that took effort he wasn't sure lying to a kid like him was worth expending.

"Let me introduce myself first. I currently go by the name Verde. My birth name, however, is Derwen Evans."

Boy tensed up. He recognised that name. His aunts' maiden name had been Evans. Was this person a relative then? But he was always told there were no more relatives, which was why his 'family' was forced to take care of him. So… where did this new relation pop out from? His eyes narrowed in suspicion and distrust, his body tensing as he prepared to bolt if he needed to.

Verde sighed. It was no wonder the boy distrusted him, with what his nieces' family did to him. He disliked talking, but he knew he had to be upfront and through, or the boy in front of him wouldn't give him a chance before shutting him out. He had been informed of the extent of abuse this child had gone through and was under no illusion that his words would simply be accepted. Which was why he had brought along proof and vowed to be completely honest with what he said.

"Don't worry", he continued, "you don't have to go back. In fact, I made sure of it. Here."

The toddler picked up a file from the nightstand beside him and took out a few pages of papers.

"You can read, right?"

"Yes", Boy nodded and carefully took the papers. He had been forced to learn reading quickly some time ago, after all, he couldn't afford to botch up the instructions in the cooking books he had to use to provide food for his relatives.

He was reluctant to trust the other's words, but he had already assured the other he would let him finish explaining. Plus, if Derwen? Verde? He had said he currently used Verde, so that's the name he would refer to him by, and whoever else lived here wanted to harm him, they could have done so while he was asleep. Unless he was sure their intentions were malicious, he would hear them out at least.

On the very top of the papers he held in hand was a police report. It detailed the arrest of the Dursley family, including Vernon's sister and son, as a result of an investigation into child abuse and murder of their charge Harry Potter. It detailed the findings inside the house, interviews with 'concerned neighbours and teachers' – he scoffed in disbelief at this part – and the initial report by a bartender, who had overheard Vernon brag of how he 'finally got rid of the little freak' when he was drunk.

"Harry Potter…", he tested the name on his tongue. "So that's my name..."

He had barely whispered to himself, but Verde had still heard him. The toddler stilled and forced himself to stay calm. To not even be told his own name… It shouldn't surprise him with how inhumanly the Dursleys had treated the child, but somehow, he had still not expected this.

Not noticing the others' turmoil, the boy continued reading. The next pages were a court order for all four of them set to the beginning of next month. After that, there was only a newspaper article detailing much the same and calling for witnesses to step forward.

"Murder?", he finally asked.

Verde had composed himself and nodded. "Yes. We had anticipated you would not want to return. Any lesser charge would not have stuck. They could have gotten out of it if the right people pulled some strings for them. So, we faked your death. This way you can get a fresh start and the ones who wish you harm will believe you out of the way. I hope you don't hold this against me. We would have asked before taking action if you had been awake, this had to be arranged quickly for it to be believable and for them not to go into hiding."

Harrys' feeling on the matter were mixed. On the one hand, he was thankful that they got punished and no one would know to look for him now, on the other hand… would the Others believe it? He didn't know. He understood the need for swiftness in this case and really didn't mind their actions, even though it made him uncomfortable that they hadn't talked to him first. It had also convinced him that they wanted to help him… for now.

"I see", he finally said, "It's true I would have been happier if you had asked first, but in this case, I don't mind. Just… don't decide for me from now on, please?"

His voice got quieter and more unsure at the end. He didn't want to step over a line and make his situation worse, but Verde had said he would get a choice. If he hadn't lied, then his words should have been fine. This was his way of testing that promise.

"Of course. We couldn't risk waking you up and disturbing the healing process, otherwise, we would have consulted you first.", Verde smiled reassuringly. "As a result, however, you will need a new identity. We will get into that later. You need to know a few more things."

Relieved he hadn't misjudged the other, Harry nodded. "Okay."

Verde took back the papers and placed them back into the file as he continued. "Let's start with your health. The doctors have, over the past few days, fixed all the wrongly healed injuries you had. They also corrected the medical consequences malpositioning and overexertion had on your back and joints and the damage to your eyes due to prolonged exposure to chemical gasses. The scarring you had has been treated to not hinder movement and, if you give your permission, can be completely removed once you are fully grown, meaning there is no rush to decide. Usually, all these treatments would have called for therapy and bedrest to stabilise, but your body has sped up the process quite a bid. You will still have to go through an exercise regimen, however."

Harry smiled in thanks as he was handed his medical file. Of course, he didn't understand all the words, but he could confirm Verde wasn't lying when he said he would have to exercise and that treatment was complete otherwise.

"There is one issue, however", Verde admitted with a sigh, "And before I can address this I'll have to talk about your power."

Harry tensed, the smile dropping from his face. He knew. Verde knew he was a freak. Was he one too? Was he with the Others after all? He knew he was hyperventilating, and he didn't care. He needed to- "Calm down, Harry, please. Your power is not a bad thing, it's something our family has had for generations, you don't have to fear it. It'll be all right. Breathe with me, alright. In and out. Just like that."

Verde was concerned. To react this badly, even under calming medication… He had quickly moved to Harry's side as he curled up in a panic and reassuringly rubbed circles over his back. Miraculously, his voice and touch did calm Harry down. He had never been comfortable being touched before, seeing as he had not had any positive touch as far as he could remember… Verdes' hand seemed to radiate warmth though. It felt nice, reassuring… right.

Warily Harry peaked back at the toddler. He looked worried. Worried about him. He swallowed. Had he finally found someone who cared about him? Just after nearly dying… and resolving himself that he didn't need anyone? No, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He had always hoped that maybe his relatives would like him a little if he was good and did what they wanted, but it had never happened. Humans were cruel. If Verde was being nice, that meant he probably wanted something from him. Until he knew what that was he couldn't let down his guard.

"Steady now. Do you want me to continue? Or shall we take a break and eat?"

"I…", Harry hesitated, he wanted to know what was wrong. But the mention of food had seemingly awakened his stomach, which gurgled loudly, making him blush in embarrassment and avert his gaze. He quickly looked back, not daring to let Verde out of sight for long. He could see his eyes gleam in amusement, but thankfully he wasn't laughed at.

"I am quite hungry", he admitted. "But I would like to know what's wrong before I eat…" He was going to worry about it all throughout the meal now…

"That's understandable. I will have something brought here for us. I will explain as we wait." Verde took out a device encased in plastic and started typing on it. "Oh, this? This is called a mobile phone. One of my colleagues invented it a few years ago and I improved it. It's like a regular telephone than can also send messages. It has batteries powering it, so you do not need a plug. If you're interested I can teach you about them sometime."

Verde smiled as he showed him the device and the message he just sent, seemingly being happy with Harrys' curiosity. It was the first time his curiosity hadn't been squashed. He couldn't hide his smile and thanked Verde quietly.

Before Verde could take up the explanation on his power, Harry decided to ask something he found even more pressing. "You said it's a family trait. So... you have it too? How are we related? Why didn't my r-… THEY have it?" He didn't want to call them his relatives anymore. They treated him badly and looked and acted nothing like him. He was certain they didn't have powers like him either. Or they wouldn't have called him a freak for having them. Verde seemed to understand though, seeing as he answered right away.

"Yes, I have it as well, so did your mother for that matter. It's commonly called magic." Harry drew in a sharp breath at that. Magic didn't exist! Or did it? He had always been told it was only a legend… then again, this wouldn't have been the first time he was lied to. He forced himself not to interrupt as Verde continued, his mouth twitching knowingly. "Many of our more distant relatives have it as well, it's genetic. But like any inheritable trait sometimes the gene that gives you access to magic will skip generations before re-emerging. This is what happened to that branch of the family."

Verde took a moment to look at Harry, to ascertain whether he understood.

"Like how cats have different coloured fur from their parents sometimes?", Harry verified, recalling the litter one of the less terrible neighbours had shown him once.

"Exactly like that." Seeing him nod again, Verde finally took a deep breath and answered Harry's second question.

"As for how we are related… It's quite a long story. Harry, I'm your grandfather."

"I… I have a grandpa?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Chapter 3 – I have a grandpa!?]
> 
> Dun dun duuuun~
> 
> Oh yeah, I've randomly decided to make a discord channel to be able to talk to everyone easier. I'll use it to share some artwork for stories and do the occasional poll and such on there too. But mainly, I figured it'd be nice to chat with everyone... if you're interested.  
> Just click [here](https://discord.gg/UJ5ukdd) to join  
> It's permanent, so feel free to drop by! If not then ill just be a lonely potato on there lol


	5. Chapter 4 – Tales of family and betrayal

Harry stared at Verde in shock. "Grandpa? B-but… how?"

"Yes, Harry. I know I look like a toddler right now, but that's not how I originally looked. It's because of a curse. I really am your grandfather."

He had a grandpa. Grandpas were supposed to protect their kids and grandkids, yet he hadn't even known his existed. Harry balled his fists into the sheets on his lap. Angry tears gathered in his eyes. He couldn't believe it. After everything that happened, he showed up now?

"If you're my grandpa, then why didn't you come for me? Didn't you want me? You didn't even visit once!" Harry sobbed, annoyed at himself for letting it get to him like this.

He heard Verde sigh and felt as he joined him on the mattress, unsurely sitting down in front of him. Determined not to let him see how much he hurt; Harry stared into his lap, not looking at his grandfather at all.

"Harry" Verde tried; worried he had blown it already. He was not good with kids. He wasn't good with people period, but especially so with children. "Harry, please look at me."

Nothing.

Carefully Verde raised his hands and placed them on his grandson's cheek. He ignored the flinch and gently lifted his head, baring the angry glare he received for his actions. At least Harry hadn't slapped away his hands. There may be hope yet.

"Please believe me when I say, if I had known about you, I would have never left you there. I know it's not an excuse and I can understand you're angry. This should never have happened after all. Will you let me explain what happened?" he asked hopefully. He didn't want to lose his grandson. Not again. He let go of his head and handed him a tissue. "I understand if you don't want anything to do with me," Verde added sardonically.

Harry wiped his tears, never taking his eyes off Verde, observing him. He didn't think he was lying.

"Explain." he hated how broken and pleading his voice sounded. He was pathetic. Didn't he just vow to himself not to put his hope into others? So why was he like this? Regardless, he found himself hoping there was a good reason for all this.

"First of all, here." He said, handing Harry two documents. Shakily, Harry took them. His eyes were blurry, so he wiped them to be able to make out the words. They were birth certificates. The first was Lily Evans', which listed Derwen Evans and Nala Johnson as parents. Derwen was Verde's original name and Lily was his daughter, did that mean…? He turned to the second one. Harry Potters'. He gasped and tightened his hold on the paper. It was his. His eyes flew over the paper. James Potter and Lily Evans. Finally, finally, he knew his parents' names. He teared up again but didn't allow them to fall this time. Verde really was his granddad.

"For you to get the whole picture I'll need to tell you quite a bit of background…"

A knock on the door made Verde cut off his words. His face closed off and he flatly called out "Come in."

The person who opened the door looked intimidating. It was a broad-shouldered man in his 30's clothed in a uniform. His weapons and utility belt made Harry conclude he was part of security. He held a tray filled with food he held in his hands.

"Put it on the nightstand, Bob."

"Yes Sir."

Without further ado Bob placed the tray down and left, closing the door behind him. Well, at least Verde's interaction with Bob did prove he held authority over him. That confirmed he was not a real toddler in Harry's mind.

He looked at his grandpa cautiously. He had been really different to the guard compared to how he treated him.

Seeing his look and understanding what he wanted to know, Verde sighed. "He is one of my employees. I act professionally with all of them. I'm only genuine with family, it's become a habit of mine. I have been told it can put people off. I apologize for the confusion. Now… Chicken soup?"

Understanding his actions now, Harry nodded. "Please." Verde smiled reassuringly at Harry and handed a spoon and one of the bowls over. "Be careful, it's hot."

The spoon halfway to the soup, Harry froze for just a moment. This didn't escape Verde. Knowing what his grandson had to go through at the hands of those who were supposed to care for him, at the hands of his own FAMILY pained and angered him greatly. He would make sure they would suffer for what they had done. However, Harry came first. He would not make the same mistake again.

He gripped his own spoon tightly and started eating.

"Your stomach has been healed, but it's still quite small. You haven't eaten in a long time, so for today you can only have soup or congee. If you have no problems today, we can change it up a little tomorrow. If there's anything you want to eat, let me know." Verde stated.

"Alright."

Neither commented on the slight crack in his voice and they ate in silence.

As he put the empty bowls back on the tray, Verde resumed where he had left off. "As I was saying, you'll need a lot of background information to get the whole picture. I won't go into too many details, just enough so you know what happened. In fact, I don't know all the facts myself, but I have my suspicions. I will let you know once I reach the point of conjecture."

Seeing Harry nod in reluctant acceptance – he clearly wanted answers, facts, but Verde couldn't provide what he didn't have – he continued on. "As you now know, Lily was Nala's and my daughter. Unfortunately, we were unable to raise her ourselves. Your grandmother had died due to an explosion in her laboratory when Lily was but a year old and shortly after that I got cursed." He spread his arms to showcase the effects of the curse. "I've looked like this ever since then, a toddler for a few decades now. With this body, I couldn't care for a baby myself. I wanted her to grow up with family though, so I didn't hire a nanny. Instead, I asked my half-brother to take her in, only until I found a way to lift it. He did. And, as you can tell, I never managed to break it. As for Lily… Lily was happy there, she had a sister and grew up in a safe neighbourhood. Once she was old enough to understand my reasons I visited her and explained what was going on. She was angry, understandably so…"

Verde swallowed painfully, recalling that day. "At first she didn't want anything to do with me. I didn't have an excuse to not be in her life at all. I still regret not visiting her. But a few years later we started exchanging letters. She visited me a few times and once she got married to James I got to visit them as well. But, shortly after you were born they went into hiding. They never told me the reason, but they were made into targets of an evil wizard named Voldemort that was gaining power at the time. I never heard from then since. When I asked my brother about them once I heard of Voldemort's death... He told me you were dead. That the three of you had been buried. I went to your memorial, Harry. 'In memory James, Lily, and Harry Potter. We will remember their sacrifice in the conflict with the Dark Lord Voldemort' That was the exact wording."

Tears were gathering in his eyes as he explained. Harry was sobbing as he finally heard the truth about his parents' death. He felt Verde's arms close around him in a hug. It was the most wonderful, warm sensation he ever felt. It only made him cry harder.

Eventually, he looked up from Verde's embrace, unsurprised to see his eyes were red as well. "What… what happened then?"

"Then" Verde heavily responded "I left. Britain that is. I only came back once a year to visit the memorial on the day they died. On Halloween. My brother distanced himself from me after that, and his daughter never liked me from the start, so I never attempted to contact them either. He lied to me, Harry. I don't yet know why, but I will find out. Once I found out I… I had to make sure you were alright first. I don't think I can lose you again Harry." he admitted wearily.

Harry's mind was racing. He didn't know what to think. On one hand, he wanted to blame his grandpa, rage at him, vent his frustration and fear and then leave, regardless of how good his reasons… But… he had sounded so old just then, so tired. He didn't think it was right to hurt him like this. If what he said was true… It wasn't his fault.

As he stared into his granddad's eyes, he knew. This guy was family. He truly cared about him, even though he didn't even know him. This… this is what family should be like.

"Okay…" he said, and seeing his grandpa's hopeful expression he elaborated. "I believe you. You couldn't have known… People… family is supposed to be trustworthy, right? I can understand. Just… just don't leave me … please?"

Harry forgave him, for not being there, for not rescuing him sooner. But in the end… he had. Harry didn't know if he could have survived by himself if he was honest. He desperately wanted to believe he could have, but in his heart, he knew. It would have been possible for a while, but he was too young to live alone. He didn't know enough. There are innumerable ways he could have died.

So, one last time, he would put his faith into someone. This man, his grandpa, who suffered from the loss of his parents like him, who gave warm hugs and understanding smiles and explained things to him patiently. He could let this man in. Not right away, but he could. Eventually. He would cling to this warmth for as long as possible since he never knew how long it would last.

Relief. That was all he felt now. Relief that someone wanted him, that he wasn't alone, that the hurt stopped. And thus, he cried into his grandpa's arms and latched onto the white fabric of his lab coat, like he never wanted to let go. The revelations had been huge and all the emotions they triggered had exhausted him. So; even as he cried, the tension left his body and he slipped into oblivion.

Verde revelled in the hug as his grandson cried himself back to sleep in his arms. He was happy. Unspeakably so. Harry accepted him and wanted to stay with him. He had a family again. True family. Harry was a treasure. He tightened his hug around Harry as he sniffed in his sleep, head resting against his small chest. Despite the years that went by he still felt uncomfortable in this tiny body.

Reluctantly, he placed Harry down a few minutes later and gently pried his fingers from his coat. As much as he wanted to stay where he was right now, he needed answers. And they had better be good, or heads were going to roll.

He wanted to spend as much time with Harry as he could. Since the child was asleep, he should go and get his answers now. Sadly, he could not send one of his minions to get them, seeing as he would have to visit places they didn't have access to. His employees were mainly disconnected from their magical heritage or not magical at all. Squibs and Muggles, as the British wizarding community called them. He hated those derogatory names everyone so casually used. He much preferred the more neutral terms.

In any case, he had to visit places only magically active species – meaning wizards or magical creatures – could enter and/or perceive. In Britain at that, which housed one of the most backward and prejudiced magical communities in the world.

Verde sighed tiredly and hopped off the bed. He got a towel and warm water to gently clean Harry's face. The child would still feel uncomfortable from all the crying he had done, but not as bad as it could be. Then he changed his clothes to something more appropriate for the locals, along with a cloak. He pulled up the hood and charmed it to hide his face. No need to provoke trouble by publicly walking around as a toddler. Alone.

God, he looked like Viper. His friend always wore a long cloak with a hood to hide their features. He didn't even know their gender, that's how secretive the illusionist was.

Banishing his friend out of his mind, Verde waved his hand absentmindedly, conjuring paper and pen and wrote a quick message to his grandson, just in case he wasn't back before he woke up. He placed a temporary temperature control ward and an alert ward around the bed, so Harry wouldn't get cold and he would be notified once he woke up, then placed the note on the night desk where it should be easily discovered.

He opened his mobile to notify his guards of his trip, then turned it off. He hadn't yet figured out how to stop magic from interfering with powered up electronics. This way it wouldn't die on him and he still had it on him for emergencies. He put on some black gloves and turned one of them into a portkey to a shielded alley behind the international portkey office. Portkeys were a form of magical quick-travel anchored to an item. Not quite as fast as teleportation, but way less energy consuming and fast enough for his needs. It could be cast in advance, or even permanently imbued in a sufficiently receptive material, and activated with a pre-set phrase once needed.

With a quiet "Activate" he felt the magic grab hold of his chest and pull him up at ridiculous speeds. Once again, he was thankful someone had invested time to modify the original spell. Being pulled from behind the navel was an entirely disconcerting, not to mention nauseating experience that still turned his stomach to this day. All traditional magical methods of traveling did.

As he felt the magic slacken slightly, he angled his body downwards, just in time as well. He felt his feet connect to the ground and ran a few steps forward, to stop his momentum.

He slowed his gait, straightened his slightly ruffled clothing, and entered the building. From the outside and inside it looked like a small travel agency. In fact, it did function as one for Non-magicals.

"May I get an express travel pass to Britain, please.", Verde spoke in perfect Italian.

The agent behind the counter nodded in understanding, not at all bothered by his height or weird apparel. He seemed used to it, from those traveling to Britain. "Step through to the office, my colleague will set you up."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Verde stepped through the door beside the counter. He had entered a church sized round hall that should, if you did not factor in magic, not have fit into the building. The ceiling was just over three meters high, and artificial windows showing the view of various monuments and tourist attractions around the world, lit up the hall brightly. Wizards and various magical beings with their children or on business sat on rows and rows of benches, waiting for their portkey to be called. A short line of them was waiting in front of an information desk, where a cheerful fairy fluttered about, answering inquiries. A team of hitwizards – magical mercenaries – were hired as security and kept a watchful eye over the chaos.

He moved towards the longer line of customers waiting to purchase their portkeys from an agent behind the counter. Only two of them were sufficient to serve all the customers right now, but more could and would be called if the line got too long. Quite similar to an airport, really. Without the planes.

Incoming portkeys arrived in a different hall and left from there.

Not 5 minutes later, Verde had purchased his portkey – he would share with 4 others, private portkeys were more expensive, and there were only 10 minutes before departure – and settled on a bench to wait. He might as well decide where to stop first while he waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there!
> 
> Here I am again! I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think, and please join my new and deserted [discord](https://discord.gg/UJ5ukdd)if you feel like chatting~


	6. Chapter 5 – Verde makes a move

Verde hurried out of the Arrival Square and along Horizont Alley towards the large white building at the end, inwardly rolling his eyes at the pun-riddled naming conventions of the local shopping district. After reviewing his memories of British law, he had decided to skip visiting the ministry entirely and head straight for the goblin-run bank, Gringotts.

Apparently, due to a loophole in wording, in Britain, any treaties made between houses or individuals before the most recent Goblin war, some 150 years ago, held precedent over current laws regarding house business, so long as the treaty was still active and only in so far as the contents of the original includes.

As the current head of the Ancient Clan of Evans – they had had their noble status lifted, to be able to continue moving around the world without too much hassle – Verde was familiar with all agreements and treaties his family had ever entered into. One of the few still active ones was with the goblins, regardless of country. It had been a necessity due to the family's occasionally nomadic tendencies. However, in many a nation, the agreement had become obsolete due to national law.

Seeing as Lily had not officially married into the Noble House of Potter, Harry was part of Verde's clan. As such, the treaty stated that as an orphan of the Evans Clan, he as the head was automatically made the boy's guardian, both in the magical and non-magical sense, upon his parents' death. It was his right and responsibility to decide if anyone else was to raise Harry. This held precedent even over the parents' own wills. There was no one with the right to step over his head like this. Especially as Lily had informed him James was the last of the Potter line. With James' death, Harry was effectively the family head of that family so no other treaty could have interfered in any way.

That fact he hadn't even been informed of Harry's survival meant the goblins had violated this treaty. And he would find out why. Their agreement was ancient and upheld religiously on both sides, and the penalties he could demand from the Goblin Nation for this violation were crippling. This was one of the strongest reasons he had not doubted his brother's words at all when he claimed Harry was among the dead.

Verde entered the bank, bowing to the gatekeepers politely as he went. Basic courtesy was not below him and had no influence on his anger. He ignored the surprised looks the guards shot him as he entered the bank and headed straight for one of the tellers. There was no line, so he simply paused briefly as the goblin finished writing in his ledger before greeting him in their tongue – Gobbledygook, synonymous for nonsense, was an insult he refused to use.

"Good day teller Sharpnail.", his voice was flat and carefully void of emotion. He politely ignored said teller's shock at receiving a proper greeting. Really, the British were a rude bunch to other species, he was not surprised.

"Wizard", the goblin had composed himself and replied in kind, if slightly less politely. "What can Gringotts do for you today?"

"I would speak with one in charge of international accounts with a treaty."

The teller stared at him for just a moment, debating whether he should take him seriously or not. Finally, he decided to close his counter and motioned Verde to follow him.

"I will take you to Broadframe's office."

Wordlessly, they traveled into the tunnels, passed the carts and stopped at a door marked with a golden plate reading 'Broadframe – international accounts'.

Sharpnail knocked on the door. Having been called in, he stepped through for a moment to speak to the goblin inside before waving Verde through the door.

"My thanks, teller Sharpnail, may your riches grow, and your enemies fall by your hands."

"And may you find fortune and strike fear into yours, wizard."

With a last nod of acknowledgment, Sharpnail left, closing the door behind him.

Broadframe had not missed the exchange and was observing Verde in surprise as he took off his hood and bowed to him in greeting.

Slightly confused due to his appearance, Broadframe still bowed back and motioned for him to sit. He had apparently decided to take him seriously unless he proved unworthy of it. Good.

"Welcome, wizard. What can I do for you today?"

"Greetings, manager Broadframe, my name is Derwen Evans. I am the current head of the Ancient Welsh Clan of Evans." Verde willed his Head of House ring to show on his hand just as the goblin's gaze flickered down to his hand for a moment, confirming his claim. "I came today to investigate a violation of our treaty.", Verde said bluntly. He didn't bat an eye at the goblin's suddenly sharp gaze.

"A serious thing to claim, wizard. Are you aware of what you're saying?"

Verde merely raised an eyebrow, not impressed. "Of course. This is no joking matter. I have half a mind to demand satisfaction and be done with it.", he drawled. "But the pleasant relationship we had over the centuries has stayed my hand … for now."

Broadframe was fuming. He was familiar with that particular treaty; it was, of course, magically binding. One of the oldest and harshest still in effect, and one of the most dangerous for both sides. A breach on their part could have disastrous consequences should his claim hold true. He summoned a goblin runner and assigned him to get him the files on the Evans Clan, yesterday.

"Elaborate." he half demanded, half pleaded.

"You are familiar with the agreement then, good. As you know; even if an Evans takes a different name after marriage, they and their children stay part of the Clan, unless and until specified otherwise in a marriage contract. Or if they officially leave on their own accord."

Broadframe nodded, confused. What did this have to do with anything?

"Imagine my surprise then, when not two weeks ago, I found my orphaned grandchild, whom I had been told was dead, malnourished and beaten to the brink of death by his apparent guardians, whom I most certainly had not assigned."

His anger was beginning to show as he spoke. With every word Broadframe got paler and paler, understanding the implications. He felt faint. Family was considered sacred in the Magical world. They were a minority among the population. This was a fact. In addition, their birth rate was low due to the longevity bestowed by Mother Magic. Which meant that every single child was seen as a gift and protected accordingly. The mental images his brain conjured at the angry statement of the miniature adult sitting opposite him made his stomach churn dangerously as dread and understanding settled over the usually hard-hearted goblin.

The runner returned with a blood locked box clutched in his arms, quickly placed it down and excused himself with a bow. Broadframe quickly bit his thumb and opened the box, spreading the most recent documents in front of him.

"Y-your grandson?"

"My grandson. The son of my daughter Lily. I presented her to Gringotts at age 17, as is proper."

"There is no account of such a thing in your records, Clan Leader Evans." Broadframe stammered helplessly.

Wrong move. Verde's face darkened, and he nearly growled at the panicked goblin in front of him.

"I know for a fact your predecessor did, in fact, record it and can provide a memory of the event. It is your responsibility to safeguard your files, not mine." he snapped. "I want to know how this happened and why, with who's authority, everything. I want a complete investigation."

Verde's hand balled into fists. "What I also want, manager Broadframe, is a reason not to demand satisfaction for this slight. My grandson is a wreck, I still don't know all the horrors he went through in that house, and I will be damned if I let the ones responsible walk away. Have I made myself clear?" he demanded harshly.

Broadframe took a few deep breaths to steady himself. This was bad. Worse than bad. It was also above his paygrade at this point.

"Crystal. I will contact my superiors right now. We will get to the root of this, Clan Leader Evans."

Verde nodded sharply, not in the mood for any more pleasantries. To think the proud warrior nation of the goblins had sunk low enough to be unable to even guard their most confidential files... "Get on with it then."

Broadframe activated his emergency communicator. It looked like an old-fashioned lighter. It was basically a modification to floo travel that only allowed for voice communication. Using floo powder – basically magical fire beetles that were ground into powder and mixed with a stabilizing agent- as a connector, one could connect fire sources to one another either to communicate or travel. Fires for instant travel do, of course, have to be large enough for the traveler to fit through.

Broadframe rapidly and concisely explained the situation to his supervisor.

"I will be right down. I want everyone who has so much as glanced into the archive room for the past 25 years to be investigated. Arrange it, you can use my name if you need to. We have to get this mess sorted no matter what. I will need to contact his Majesty for this. We should be there in less than 20 minutes."

The connection went dead. Broadframe sighed in relief. He had half expected this, but King Ragnok III really would personally deal with this matter. Luckily, he had only been in office for a year, which would hopefully mean he got to keep his head over this mess.

He snapped the communicator shut and turned his attention back to Verde, who hadn't taken his cold gaze off him once.

"His Majesty will personally look into this matter. He is expected to arrive shortly. I have been authorized to start the investigation in the meantime. While we gather evidence and question our people… can Gringotts do anything else for you?"

"I expect this mess to take a while for you to sort out.", Verde pointed out flatly. "As his rightful guardian, I would also like to know what happened to my grandson's inheritance. His previous… caretakers… never received a stipend for his care. They, in fact, believe his parents to not have left him anything. Which implies there were no statements, no documents, no will, nothing. Seeing as he is the last member of his father's house, this is impossible."

Barely keeping from cursing out loud, the goblin rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Yet another mess to deal with then.

"Do you know who was assigned to their account?", he asked in defeat. Every Noble House had its own dedicated manager in charge of their holdings.

"I do not."

"In that case, I'll need the full names of him and his parents."

"Harry James Potter, son of Lily Bluebell Potter nee Evans and James Charlus Potter."

The goblin nearly had a heart attack at that. He hadn't made the connection until then. This was bad. If anything on their side had been screwed up, the wizarding public would lynch them. There would be war. Broadframe strongly wished he hadn't gotten up in the morning.

He summoned yet another runner, to get him the Potter account manager.

The longer the other manager took, the more exasperated and scared he got.

15 minutes later Verde's patience was running thin. He smiled thinly at the heavily sweating goblin. "He sure is taking his time, isn't he.", Verde stated deceptively calmly. "Is this how all noble houses are treated here, Manager Broadframe?"

"It most certainly is not.", the other replied tiredly.

He was about to get up to drag them here themselves when Verde raised his hand to stop him.

"Whoever they are, they are fired. Effective immediately. I had wanted to give them a chance to explain themselves, but obviously, they aren't very fond of their job. A dedicated manager has no excuse to ignore a summons like this. I want you to assign a more professional goblin to the accounts from now on. As Harry's guardian I do not have the authority to move them abroad, unfortunately, or I would. Have them familiarize themselves with the accounts until tomorrow. I will return in the evening and I expect a report from them at that time."

The chastised goblin showed none of the snarling fierceness and pride his race was famous for. He merely voiced his understanding. The night and following day Gringotts would have to run on emergency protocols.

"Good, I will take my leave then. I trust his Majesty will know what to do. I still need to make a few stops before I can go home today."

Goblins hated wasting any time, which meant not waiting around to exchange useless pleasantries was, in fact, the polite thing to do. Thus, Verde decisively stood up to leave.

"I am aware you, at least, had nothing to do with this mess, Broadframe. May your business succeed and your enemies tremble at your feet."

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, wizard. We are thankful you are giving us this chance to salvage the longstanding relationship between us. We are aware you did not need to. May all your endeavors succeed, and your enemies suffer a painful death."

Once more shrouded in his cloak, Verde left the building with no further incident. He headed for the closest apparition point. Apparition was another near instant form of magical travel. Whereas Floo travel only worked locally, and if the network was set up, and portkeys dropped you off with the subtlety of a screeching cat, apparition, if mastered adequately, was the most silent and quick. The only thing you needed for it was a wand and a firm image of your destination and the knowledge, where that was.

Disorientation on arrival was inevitable, however, so in contrast to true teleportation – which was quite a lot more magically straining – apparition was mid-range transportation not suited for combat situations.

Verde concentrated on his destination, turned on the spot and vanished without a sound, only to reappear, similarly soundlessly, just around the corner of his dear brother's new residence. He made sure he hadn't been seen before waving his hand over his body to disillusion himself – invisibility was too amazing and advantage to pass up - and heading to the entrance of the apartment building purposefully.

His brother Jarred must have thought himself clever, changing his last name to that of his deceased wife on paper. But he had panicked, and frantic people made mistakes. The trail was quite easy for him to follow, ridiculously so, he nearly felt insulted. Being part of the criminal underworld for as long as he had been – even if unwillingly – had the inevitable effect of picking up varied 'specialized' skills and contacts necessary to survive the bloodthirsty environment.

His lips twitched in ridicule. He had waited a few days before acting. Just long enough for fear to sink in, followed by a little bit of hope. He would delight in crushing it.

He hadn't even needed to contact anyone to find them, merely hacking into a few databases had been enough. It might have been slightly more difficult if his brother had had time to prepare. He, of course, did not care either way. The fact Jarred had taken his things and ran meant he didn't have a clear conscience. If he had been forced or otherwise bespelled to betray the family as he had, then there wouldn't have been a need to leave… and just when Harry's situation had been on the news, funny, that.

Regardless of the above, Compulsion spells, including the Imperius curse, which could control a weak-minded target completely, did not need magic to resist. So, of course, Verde had made it a point to school the whole extended family in spotting the signs of one on their mind and then resisting the effects.

He usually sent his subordinates to capture targets, but this was family business. It was personal. Plus, this way Verde had no need to avoid using magic like he would, if the entirely non-magical of his employees were accompanying him.

He would have to be quick, however. He did not know if the British Ministry could detect his actions, or how they would react to them. Properly setting up precautions against this was a course of action he would usually prefer… His target was familiar with magic though, so he would detect those measures in his – no doubt highly alert - state. He would give him the chance to bolt if allowed to detect Verde's actions, which was out of the question. It meant he would become desperate. Cornered prey became dangerous when they were desperate.

His body was too small for this project to conclude swiftly without its use, so he was forced to use the least time-consuming method available to him and just went ahead with it. Rash, maybe. However, the minimum precautions had been taken, and, if he left Jarred enough time to recognize his need for additional protection, his task would be harder. Verde's rage had played a part in his tactics, but he was too experienced to forego planning and back-up. He had, after all, not known Jarred as well as he had thought, so relying solely on predicting his actions and his past behavior pattern was idiocy. And Verde was no idiot.

'No', he reassured himself, 'acting swiftly and decisively is best in this case.'

It was against his usual style, it was unpredictable, it was perfect.

Verde reached into his cloak and removed a device the size of an adult's fist. It was a handy invention of his, that, when switched on, set all security cameras and recording devices within 50-200m of it on loop. 50 would suffice. He had found two of them monitoring the entrance area, so using it was necessary if he didn't want to just destroy them. He quickly found a blind spot he could stand in and dispelled his invisibility just long enough to turn it on and set it down just under the mailboxes. It would be safe enough there for the few minutes he would need.

Once more disillusioned, he steadied himself for a moment, before letting his magic flow into his Head of Clan ring and directed it to unlock the door. He had other foci back on the base, but his ring could function as one and was one of the least conspicuous. He disliked using 'ready-made' spells like the Unlocking charm – wandless and intent-based magic was way more flexible – but he needed the precision and control one provided right now, in order to keep the energy residue he left to a minimum.

He slipped past the door and soundlessly ghosted up to the 5th floor. In front of the right door he paused for a moment and gently placed a hand on the smooth wood. There was an icy glint in his eyes and a cruel smirk formed on his lips. It was time.

Time to exact vengeance.


	7. Chapter 6 - Change is in the air

Jarred Evans was terrified. He had been naïve. Stupidly so.

Jarred had always been jealous of his younger half-brother. Compared to him, the unwanted squib bastard of his pureblood father and a prostitute, Derwen had always had the support of his parents. Whereas Jarred had only been tolerated and had had to prove himself over and over, earn his keep around the estate, and generally earn everything he wanted… Derwen had a loving mother to care for him and teach him, and later, once the sheer scale of his genius had been discovered, been gotten even more preferential treatment. Derwen learned how to run the estate in record time, never having to help out again, and got private tutors for a variety of magical subjects. At one point he even managed to talk his father into letting him attend normal school!

He could still remember his classmates talking, his embarrassment at having to explain how smart Derwen was, how he had skipped grades, and would most probably do so again, never slowing down.

Derwen was charismatic, he drew people in, no one could hate him. 'Derwen already earned several degrees, he is so smart! Why can't you be more like Derwen! Look, Derwen invented this! Derwen, Derwen, Derwen…'

It had been infuriating. There had been nothing he could do about it at the time, however. He still needed the resources his family could provide, so, he had no choice but to kiss up to the spoiled brat.

Oh, Jarred acknowledged he was smart, scarily so. But that did not mean he wasn't a smug, spoiled brat that liked to rub it into your face.

'Look, Jarred! I made this, now you won't have to walk to school anymore!'

'Look what I found, Jarred!'

Oh, to those not familiar with the sly little shit it may seem like he was just being helpful or even caring, but Jarred didn't buy it for a second. He could see past the façade perfect little Derwen put on for his family. Not that anyone else would have believed him if he had pointed it out. The brat had played them like the fools they were.

He had always known Derwen was trouble. But he still hadn't expected quite how he had been proven to be correct... No, no, it had been way worse than he had anticipated.

Derwen had destroyed his life.

Agitated with where his thoughts had taken him, Jarred threw down the newspaper he had been trying to read, got up and left the kitchen. He couldn't concentrate with all the thoughts running through his head. Maybe a nap would do him some good.

He didn't regret lying to Derwen. It was payback. Payback for taking everything he had worked for away from him, for getting his family killed, thus ripping away what little support he had gotten, and for turning his world upside down. Then, when it was all over, he had made a new life for himself, found a nice girl and had a kid with her, when he had nearly managed to forget his resentment and moved on… his 'brother' dropped back into his life.

He hadn't recognized him at first, seeing as he had managed to get himself cursed into the body of a toddler of one or two. Then, without a warning beforehand and only a short explanation of how he couldn't physically take care of her, expected him to take care of his daughter alongside his own. He had, apparently, hooked up with a colleague and gotten her pregnant, only for her to blow herself up months later.

Jarred had accepted, gleeful in the knowledge he could corrupt the kid, Lily, against her irresponsible father. He cared for her, taught her and treated her as his own, all the while knowing her absence hurt Derwen more than anything he could do to him.

When Derwen visited once she turned ten, telling her about her parentage, he reveled in the hurt Lily caused him with her explosive rejection.

He had forgotten about magic. In hindsight, he shouldn't have been surprised when Lily got a letter from Hogwarts. They had mistaken her for a muggle-born, and she had not corrected the assumption.

The many months she spent away learning magic at Hogwarts had had the effect of distancing her from them though. And at some point, she had, perhaps inevitably, been talked into giving the cursed brat a chance. He had not been able to openly chastise her for it, less she find out about his plan.

He still regretted his failure, when, miraculously, as if in answer to his desire… His own precious daughter had called him, in a right rage, telling him how Lily died, taking her husband with him. The infant, along with a letter explaining this, had ended up on her doorstep.

He had not been able to believe his luck. Gleefully, he instructed her to keep the boy, care for him, knowing all the while she would not be able to let go of her own resentment for Lily, and how much Vernon hated the supernatural.

If he couldn't turn Derwen's precious people against him, then he could at least this one hated his life, wouldn't be loved just as he hadn't been, and feel the same pain he had felt – and as a result, his brother, too, would suffer.

He insinuated the whole family had died when he came calling, listening to his hateful brother sob his heart out with a smile on his face, and telling him his 'heartfelt' condolences.

He had not expected to be found out this quickly.

Oh, he was under no illusion Derwen would have found out at some point. Once the kid was off to that blasted castle to learn magic tricks, perhaps. He had already made plans to disappear before then. He wasn't ready yet. 'Curse Vernon and his blasted temper, couldn't he have held back a little!?'

Unable to lay still, he started pacing. The move had been rushed and he hadn't thought of the implications at the time. He should have stayed, come up with a lie to fool Derwen. But, he had been frantic and not been able to think clearly. With help from a few college students, he had managed to pack up and transport everything in less than a week. But, except for the bed, nothing else had been unpacked yet in this particular room, so boxes were still stacked up, forming piles all the way up to the ceiling.

He tried to calm himself. 'I still had time, he reasoned. Derwen would go after Vernon first, he and his family had wronged him more than Jarred himself did. Even if he hired some of his associates in the underworld, getting into a prison required careful planning if he didn't want to get caught, and a few weeks of time. He could work with that.

He forced himself not to think of the fact he basically left his daughter to the sharks. His wife would've been furious, were she still alive. His own survival came first though.

'Maybe', he considered, 'Those plans aren't useless. Just need to pull some strings. With the right preparations and enough money to grease some palms… my plans could still work!'

Excited and somewhat relieved at the prospect, Jarred never noticed the soft sound of footsteps behind him.

"Hello, Jarred", a familiar voice said icily.

His eyes widened in fear and he was just about to bolt when he felt a small sting on the back of his neck, and then nothing.

"Foolish brother", Verde muttered as he stared down onto the unconscious form of his target. He canceled his invisibility and took out a shrunken trunk from his pocket. It housed an expanded room he had yet to furnish, there weren't even any stairs to lead up to the exit.

He tapped it with his finger to return it to normal size, opened it, and carelessly threw Jared inside, before returning it to a warded pouch inside his robe pocket.

Just extracting his memories and killing the traitor would be letting him off too easily. No, Verde had something way more fitting in mind for him.

"Perhaps I have been too lax in running the family", Verde muttered in resignation as he shrunk and packed up all Jarred belongings, just in case there was anything he had use for in there – he would burn the rest. If his own brother dared to pull something like this, there was no telling how daring the other members of the family had gotten. Jarred would be made an example of. It was time to remind the family of their roots, their rules and what the Evans Clan stood for.

He already had a suitable punishment in mind. There were a few interesting experiments he hadn't risked testing on a life subject yet, some of which he had determined to have pretty… interesting side-effects on the user. His dear brother would make a perfect volunteer.

With interesting he did, of course, mean painful and/ or gruesome.

His work did have its perks.

With a last glance around the apartment, Verde waved his hand to scramble his magical signature, just in case, and ghosted back downstairs to collect his invention.

He wouldn't go after Vernon and his niece yet. There would be a more… opportune time to collect those two. No, they would stand trial first, see their precious 'normal' reputation in tatters. Then he would let them spend some time in jail. It wouldn't be hard at all to arrange for their cellmates to be particularly hateful of child abusers. My, my, what a coincidence that would be. That would have to be enough from him.

Then, once Harry decided what to do with them – as the aggrieved party, his grandson got to decide how to handle them – they would mysteriously 'break out' of their cells and 'go into hiding'.

The same applied to Marge Dursley, Vernon's sister and the little bully his niece called a son. Honestly, how much do you have to hate your son to ensure they'd die of a heart attack before ever turning 40.

He would have to talk to his precious grandchild about them soon.

It was getting late now, Harry would wake up soon, so he had to hurry. There were only a few small errands left to do now. Mainly purchase some things he would need to make sure whoever in the magical world was in on this – and they had to be a very influential individual to arrange things at Gringotts as they had – could not track down his grandson.

He was safe inside Verde's base, of course. He had made sure even blood-based forms of scrying were nullified by the wards, but he wouldn't be once he stepped outside. The thought of keeping him locked up there like a prisoner was a ridiculous one he hadn't even entertained for a second.

He would find out who his newly found enemies were and deal with them more permanently later, Harry's safety and happiness came first.

Back in Sicily, in an undisclosed location underground, Harry Potter stirred under his covers.

He could not believe how comfortable he was. The bed and pillow beneath him were softer than anything he could imagine, and his blanket was warm and fluffy. He almost didn't want to move and just relish this feeling until he fell back asleep. But… His eyes and mouth felt dry and his nose was stuffy.

He went back over the conversation he had had with his grandpa, and wasn't that still a foreign concept, he rubbed at his eyes to clear them and reluctantly got out of bed. He was pretty sure the calming medication had worn off completely now, seeing as the nagging fear he had only realized was there once it was gone, had returned. He was surprised he actually hadn't had a nightmare or 10. Forcefully NOT thinking about it, he stretched to wake up his limbs.

He needed to wash his face. It didn't feel as bad as it normally did after he cried, but still unpleasant nonetheless. He wondered why.

He opened his eyes, half expecting Verde to still be there, watching over him. He wasn't.

Chastising himself for feeling a stab of disappointed at that, Harry's eyes landed on a note that was lying on the nightstand. Apparently, his grandpa had gone out to get some of the answers they both wanted. Harry smiled in relief at that. Nothing he did or said had caused him to leave, then.

He stumbled into the bathroom, still a bit drowsy from the best rest he had in ages and turned on the lights. There weren't any windows. The same applied to the room he woke up in… did his grandpa live underground?

Harry stepped onto the stool conveniently ready in front of the sink and blinked into the mirror. Then he blinked again in confusion, his drowsiness gone completely. He stared.

"W-what…?"

Harry raised his hand experimentally. The boy in the mirror did the same.

So that was really him? But, he looked so different!

First of all, his hair colour had changed. He now had green hair like his grandpa, but his was a lighter, emerald green colour. How did that happen?

His eyes had also changed from deep red to a violet that bordered on pink.

And had he always been this tall? He doubted it. His earlier clumsiness made sense now.

Stunned, he brought his hands up and tugged one of his wild curls in front of his face. It was green alright.

These were only the changes he couldn't explain, at least. The others, like his more healthy-looking skin and the absence of wounds and bruises, or the fact he seemed to have filled out a little, he could attribute to the excellent treatment he had gotten from the doctors.

He was still too thin, but it seemed they had managed to preserve what muscle mass Harry had managed to build up labouring under the sun like a slave and running from bullies.

The lightning bolt on his forehead still stood out prominently, like it had only recently healed over.

'Come to think of it, grandpa did tell me there was a problem with it', Harry remembered. He would have to ask about it later. He had little doubt his grandpa would have had it sorted out already if it was an immediately disadvantageous issue. Harry had had the scar since he could remember, so if it was very dangerous he should have noticed before now, right?

Completely forgetting why he went into the bathroom in the first place, Harry kept staring into the mirror, drinking in his own features in wonder.

He could see the resemblance between Verde and himself, now that he had time to look for it. They had the same nose and eyebrows for one, and their face shape was really similar, too. Small details like the angle and tilt of their eyes were also the same.

Verde was family.

This fact slowly began to sink in as he observed himself in the mirror.

He had cared for him when he was hurt, called the doctors and even made sure the Dursleys went to jail for what they did to him. And, he knew of and didn't mind his power. Did that mean he didn't have to be a freak anymore?

Verde cared for him.

He wanted to believe it. He really did. But…. What if he didn't?

Harry sighed, forcefully stopping himself from continuing that thought and slapped his own cheeks to cheer himself up. He would need time to see for himself. He finally did wash his face and, just as he dried off, there was a knock on the door.

He flinched at the sudden noise and swallowed, suddenly nervous. He cleared his throat before calling out.

"W-Who is it?"

What if it was the scary guard from before?

"It's Verde. Can I come in?"

"Grandpa?", Harry asked in relief, "Come in!"

It felt weird being asked for permission before someone entered. No one had ever done that before. Not that he'd had his own room for people to enter, but still. The point was, he wasn't used to it and thus, did not quite know how to react to it. It did feel nice though, to have some privacy.

The first thing Verde did after he came in, was smile at him warmly.

And why did that simple action make Harry's eyes burn traitorously. He could see the affection his grandpa felt for him inside that smile, soothing his worry and dispelling his lingering doubts. His throat felt suspiciously tight.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Y-yea…"

"That's good. It's still early right now. Are you hungry?"

Harry glanced at the clock hanging close to the door. It was 6:30 am.

"A little", he admitted, smiling unsurely at the other.

"Shall we grab some breakfast then? I can show you around the base afterwards."

Harry nodded. His questions could wait. He had been curious where they were and had wanted to explore. He hadn't been sure if he was allowed to, though. Additionally, he didn't want to risk running into the guard or others like him while he was alone.

"That would be nice.", he replied quietly. "I wanted to stretch my legs a little as well."

Verde smiled approvingly at that, then paused.

"Harry", he chose his words carefully, "since we will encounter my subordinates once we step outside I will have to act… professionally again. My line of work can be dangerous, so I am forced to do it this way, to ensure they respect my authority. You can ask questions about the base or our work, but please refrain from anything private until we come back, alright?"

Harry nodded in understanding. He himself had trouble being taken seriously. Being an adult, yet looking so young must be very frustrating for his grandpa. If a little patience would make it easier for him, Harry would follow his wishes.


	8. Blurb - Kaiman's Adventure 1: It's an emergency!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only noteworthy days are included in here, so there may be more than 1 day in between 'Days'

**Day 1**

Kaiman was concerned.

Her human was acting weird. As a rule, both her and him were not very social creatures. They had both been hurt too much to be truly comfortable with others around, especially hatchlings. Servants (employees) didn't count, of course.

But earlier her human had come in smelling of anger, stress and of many different people. Including a hatchling. Hatchlings were clumsy, annoying, stupid and worst of all: loud. Hopefully, her human would get rid of the strangers soon. Especially the hatchling. Kaiman hated loud things.

**Day 2**

Her human hadn't come to see her all day.

She growled in discontent.

What was her human thinking? What had happened? She didn't get it.

It seemed like her human needed reminding of where his priorities should lie. Satisfied with her conclusion she turned around in a huff, found a more comfortable position on her warm rock and went to sleep.

**Day 3**

Kaiman was angry. Her human was exasperated with her. HER!

HE was the one who hadn't visited. Where did he get the right to complain? At least she got him to update her on the situation while he offered up some treats to calm her wrath.

Apparently, the hatchling she could STILL smell on his clothes was his grandhatchling, whom he had found nearly killed by thieves who stole it from its nest. Kaiman narrowed her eyes. Aside from the fact of how that was unforgivable in and of itself, her human now intended to care for it himself?

Scandalized, Kaiman could only gape as he told her he would bring the hatchling by the following day. She could not believe this.

She hated hatchlings.

The glare she shot him that day was one worthy of legends if anyone had seen it.

**Day 4**

Kaiman was on a mission. Grudgingly, she had decided to give the hatchling a chance, if only to ensure no shortage of treats in her future. But first, she had to watch it from a safe distance.

She was lurking in a hidden corner of one of the labs, biding her time, unmoving and unnoticed by the stupid servants of her human.

Ah, there it was, the little terror. She couldn't wait for it to make a fool of both itself and her human. If only so she could laugh in his face later.

Surprisingly… the hatchling was different. It was quiet and deferred to her human. It didn't act out or make a scene. Actually, it acted surprisingly… endearing.

No, it could all just be a front, a disguise. She would not be fooled! The little hellion would reveal his true colours yet. She was patient. She would not let down her guard, she swore to herself as she silently made her way back to her human's private quarters.

Time to face the little intruder directly.

She did not have to wait for long. The door inevitably opened to let in the duo of humans. She pretended to just wake up, but the amused glint in her human's eyes as he introduced them to each other let her know he had noticed. As expected of her chosen human.

She stared at the hatchling critically, daring it to lose its façade and squeal or scream or throw a tantrum as they all did.

Instead, it approached her carefully, wonder written all over its face as it telegraphed its moves to not upset her. Smart little hellion.

Before she knew it he had reached out to pet her. She had been too focused on watching and analyzing to register what it wanted to do! How dare the little cretin!

She was about to rear back and bite the presumptuous little hell-spawn when this truly heavenly sensation registered in her brain. She suddenly did not feel the need to stop what it was doing.

Oooooh, yes, right there…

Kaiman was in a daze for the rest of the hatchling's visit.

Maybe… the hatchling wasn't that bad after all? At least she could keep its hands, right?


	9. Chapter 7 – New beginning

Over the duration of the tour Verde took him on, Harry came to the realization, that his granddad was amazing. Everyone they came across greeted them politely and he didn't see anyone show anything but respect and admiration for him.

He was also absolutely brilliant. He explained what was going on in the labs in a way Harry could understand, a simplified version since he didn't have the knowledge required to truly "understand" it otherwise. He was captivated. Captivated by the research and experiments themselves, but mainly by the passion, he could tell Verde held for his work. Harry wanted that look directed at him, discuss with his granddad like his employees did, so he vowed to rectify his ignorance. Harry wanted to learn. He could tell Verde would like him to as well, or he wouldn't explain things this patiently. He didn't want to disappoint or anger the man, or he might well get kicked out or get sent back. Punishment he could deal with, but not that.

The highlight of their tour, however, according to Harry at least, had been meeting his granddad's pet, Kaiman, who was an alligator. Alligatress? Alligatoret? Female alligator. He would have to find out the correct term later.

He had been scared at first since he'd never seen an alligator before, but Kaiman was surprisingly cute. She reminded him of a scaly cat, preferring to lazily snooze on a rock in her very own pool. She even made a content purring noise when he had been allowed to pet her! She was the most amazing animal he'd ever seen.

They had arrived back to Harry's room now. And wasn't that still a strange notion, having his own room. With a bathroom, a sitting room, a door and a lock. He even had a bed! To think all of it now belonged to Harry… It was overwhelming.

The both of them settled down on a comfortably soft couch in the sitting room. They were facing a TV just across a low living room table. There was another couch like it to their right against the wall.  
To their left was a single cushioned chair facing a desk. It was quite cozy, all in all. The floor was made of soft carpet, it was tempting to take off his shoes and curl his toes into it.

"Now then", Verde interrupted his train of thought, "I bet you have some more questions for me."

Harry nodded and recalled their previous conversation.

"Then… uhm, did you change how I look?"

Seeing the puzzled look on his grandfather's face, Harry hurriedly explained.

"That... I always had white hair, my eyes were different too, and I don't think I was ever this tall, and… Sorry, I'm rambling."

Harry cut himself off and scratched his cheek sheepishly. He was suddenly apprehensive again, his earlier excitement at the lab had been greater that the fear of rejection, of being hurt, that had been ingrained into him by his rel… THEM.

Verde smiled kindly at his precious grandson.

"It's alright, Harry. You never have to be afraid of me, ok? I will never hurt you. I may have to punish you if you do something wrong, but not like that. I might take away a privilege, like watching TV or something else for a while, but I will never hurt you-", he reassured him. He would probably have to do this many more times before his words were truly believed, but he could do that.

"As for your appearance… Your height and built were changed due to medical reasons. This is the closest we could get you to how you were supposed to look, had you been raised healthily. We can go over all the records and what has been done together at some point, if you want."

Seeing Harry chew his lip nervously, before nodding, Verde continued.

"Everything else wasn't changed by me.", seeing Harry sigh in relief, Verde smiled drily. "I would never mess with your appearance like that, Harry. I like and want you just the way you are."

Shocked that his thoughts had been that transparent, Harry's head snapped up to stare at his granddad with wide eyes.

"I can explain how it happened, though."

"Please", Harry muttered, still confused.

"To sum it up, this is a genetic trait our family exhibits once we awaken our powers, but only once both have awakened. For us to use either effectively, we have to be able to use both. One of them is the magic I've mentioned to you before."

"Ah!", Harry couldn't stop himself from calling out in realization. Verde had mentioned it before, but he had mostly ignored it in favour of processing the facts about his family.

"I see you remembered.", Verde commented in amusement.

"Magic is a power that doesn't have to be awakened to be used. Everyone's magic manifests with a slightly different colour and texture, which is called 'aura'. Nobody's aura is the same. Therefore, one can often recognize a magical Evans by their striking and unique eye colours. My own is surprisingly tame in comparison to others I have seen. It used to be a steel grey, before my second power was awakened. Your mothers were a beautiful emerald green."

They both smiled at the mention of his mum.

"I will show you some pictures of them both after this.", Verde promised. He hadn't missed the longing in his grandson's eyes.

"Back to the explanation, however. Magic manifests only in our eyes. Our second power manifests in both hair and eyes. It is a manifestation of the power of your soul called Flames of Dying Will. They were named this way due to the fact one has to be truly desperate to awaken them. This often only happens if the person is about to die. Unlike magic, which is a power you can only be born with, Flames can be awakened by anyone with enough resolve to call them forth."

Harry nodded in understanding. "So my magic is red and my flames are green? Then why did my eyes turn violet?"

Happy, that his grandson understood, Verde answered.

"This is because everyone possesses more than one type of flame. Although many people do have one type that is dominant. All in all, there are 7 types of flames, all of which have different effects. Sky Flames are orange. They hold all the other types together in Harmony. Storm Flames are red and good at disintegration, Rain Flames are blue, and their effect is tranquillity and appeasement, Sun flames are a bright yellow. They are often used for healing, as their abilities are augmentation and stimulation. My own dominant type is Lightning Flames, which are green. They are very similar to electricity, with an additional ability to harden and protect."

Verde winked at his grandson at that. They both had the same dominant Flame, meaning he could teach him everything he knew about using them.

Harry grinned back, happy they had something in common.

"I suspect your secondary Flames, which were strong enough to affect your eye colour like is has is either of the last two types.", Verde continued. "There are Cloud Flames, which are purple coloured and affect growth and propagation, as well as Mist Flames. These are a pale indigo in colour and characteristic for their construction abilities, up to creating real illusions. Either of these seem plausible, considering your new eye colour. We will find out for certain soon enough. Did you understand all that, Harry?"

"Kind of. I can imagine many uses for various flames just from the properties you told me. Will you teach me how to use them soon? Then I can think of questions until then.", Harry nervously suggested.

"Of course, we can do that.", Verde agreed readily. "I will, however, not be able to teach you magic, Harry."

Seeing the disappointment in his grandchild's eyes, he hurriedly elaborated.

"It's not that I don't want to, heavens, I do! But, due to my work we wouldn't be able to spend time outside of your studies if I did. So, if I want to get to know you properly, this is the best solution."

The apologetic look Verde shot him, made Harry calmed down and continue to listen.

"Instead, I will hire some tutors for you, if you wish. You may also read about the subject or, if you so desire, attend a suitable school for either or both. It's up to you. Unfortunately, there is no satisfactory school to teach about Flames, or I would let you choose which of the three you wish to be taught by me."

So that's how it was. It made sense, then. Of course, Verde still had to work as well, he had heard how many hours even normal education took out of the day, so he could see how it would be difficult.

"Ok… then… to school?", Harry asked hopefully. When it became apparent, that the neighbours would talk if he didn't attend school, he had been grudgingly allowed to go. He was hopeful he could finally make a friend. It was true he would prefer spending more time with his grandpa instead, but if he went to school instead, maybe he could still make one? His mean cousin had always assured him freaks didn't need or deserve friends, that nobody would like him anyhow. Then he had proceeded to scare everyone away who was nice to him. Even adults weren't safe once he had complained to his parents about the 'freak spreading lies again'. Just maybe… he wouldn't have to remain alone anymore?

Verde's face softened into an understanding smile. "Of course you can, Harry."

Over the next few hours they discussed options. They both enjoyed themselves and Harry's hesitation and insecurity melted away the more they talked. Schools in various countries were considered, seeing as communing anywhere in the world was a breeze with magic. Verde vetoed several options he knew to be lacking in security or curriculum, while Harry refused to consider schools with a small range of subjects on principle, before he had been able to get a taste for more of them. If he didn't test out the subjects, he wouldn't know where his interests lay after all.

After a more and more enthusiastic debate, they finally settled on Harry undergoing private tutelage for a year. He would acquire a solid foundation and, assisted by magic, learn the languages he needed to attend the schools they had chosen. He would have learned a few more than that, but he wished to attend school the next year and the magical process required to study languages quickly made it impossible to do so, unless he was solely exposed to the language he was looking to learn for a whole 6 months. Learning to write it took even longer in some cases. The schools would, obviously, only teach in one language, which he would have to know beforehand to finish assignments and comprehend lectures.

Thus, in order to be eligible to attend Mahoutokoro, his chosen school of magic, Harry would first learn Japanese, as the written language was the more complicated of the two. The enrolment age was 7 years of age, which meant he would not be required a vast knowledge of Kanji, but he was determined to not be behind his classmates – if he managed to pass the entrance examination.

For his non-magical education, Harry had decided to apply for the Alexandrian Institute of Knowledge. The school was connected to their magical counterpart and only students with some magical background were able to attend, since it housed the library of Alexandria, which had been saved from the flames responsible for its supposed destruction at the last second, contrary to non-magical belief. The wizards responsible for the feat then founded the Institute to ensure a place in the non-magical world for squibs and interested wizards. The collection of books had since expanded through donations and various purchases. It thus housed the largest and broadest library accessible to students worldwide, while not being overly crowded. It was perfect.

Both schools did not require their students to board. Their differing time zones furthermore made it possible for Harry to attend both. They also both offered options to skip grades and, starting in year 5 and 8 respectively, the broad standard curriculum could be adjusted to the students' interest.

Harry planned to do a lot of reading. This was necessary to make a choice he could be happy with at that time. Something he wouldn't regret and could stick to. He did NOT want to disappoint his grandpa. He would be good, study hard and make him proud.

Maybe… maybe he could even find a way to help him?

Harry wasn't very knowledgeable, but there had to be SOMETHING he could do. He was determined.

Verde himself had relaxed a lot during their discussion. He didn't have much experience in raising a child, so, contrary to how he had acted, he was still quite apprehensive of his performance. He did NOT want to mess this up. He had been acting quite out of character as a result. His anger getting the better of his calm, logical mind more often than not since that alarm ripped him from his rest.

'Calm yourself', he sternly scolded himself. 'He is safe. You won't let anyone hurt him anymore. He will be completely healed tomorrow. Physically and magically at least. His mental health is your responsibility now. Speaking of which…'

"Harry", he addressed the satisfied smiling boy.

"There are two things we need to discuss before I tell you of my findings. For one, tomorrow we will be visited by my lawyer. He will be establishing a new identity for you." Verde took a deep breath and squeezed Harry's hands reassuringly.

"As you know, 'Harry Potter' is officially deceased. So… you will need a new name."

The look of sad hurt in his grandson's eyes nearly broke his heart.

"Harry, I know you just got this name, and it's one your parents gave you, something to connect you to them. So, I'll leave it up to you to keep a part of it, or to get a completely new one. A new start, so to speak. Think it over, alright?"

Harry forced down the immediate denial and the tears that had inexplicably welled up in his eyes. He took a deep breath to collect himself and forced himself to THINK. He really didn't want to change it, didn't want to lose the connection to his parents. The connection he had sought out for so long.

'You never knew them', a voice whispered in his mind. 'Not really. You just want to believe they're these ideal saints that could do no wrong.'

But Verde… he was HERE, he had saved him.

"I…", Harry started.

His granddad raised his hand to silence him.

"You don't have to decide now. You have until tomorrow morning. You can think of a new name that still has a connection to them, or keep a part of it, whatever you want to, Harry. We just cannot leave it exactly as it is. Don't rush into this."

That just reassured him in his decision, actually. Before that, he needed to know something though.

"That means, I won't be their son anymore, right? Then whose?"

"Of course you'll still be their son, Harry. That won't ever change. This is just some paperwork, unless you decide you wish to be adopted officially. Even then, that would only ADD a parent, not remove any. You will always be their son.", Verde reassured, then took out his mobile and opened a photograph to show to Harry.

"As for your new family… I suggest this couple. He was a cousin of mine. Sadly, you cannot get to know them as they've been deceased for a few months. Since they spent the last 10 years traveling, you were watched by acquaintances most of the time. They were killed in the wilderness of Africa last month. There was a stampede. They were lovely people, I knew them well…", Verde trailed off, coughed and continued.

"In any case, them having a child only known to me wouldn't have been strange. After their deaths, I was notified of your survival and adopted you as my own grandchild."

Harry nodded. It sounded reasonable. "I'm sorry."

Verde sighed, sadly. "It's alright, child. They lived a happy life. In fact, I believe they would be content, knowing they died together, and in love with each other. Death is also only part of life, Harry. Sometimes it is sudden, like in this case, but people don't truly die until they are forgotten, remember that, alright?"

Harry nodded pensively. They seemed like a nice couple. He thought he could live with people believing they were his parents.

He had come to a decision.

"Grandpa?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"I don't need to think it over.", he started determinedly, raising his hand to keep Verde from interrupting.

"I will change it, but I don't want to lose the connection to my parents. I don't really know much about my dad… but I heard once that our family always names their children after plants, so that would be a connection to my mom. I…"

Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes and decided to just blurt it out.

"I would like for you to name me, please!"

He flinched and screwed his eyes shot tightly, convinced he had messed up with his request… But the expected blow or shout never came.

Instead, he felt his granddad's warm hands grip his own.

"I would be honoured to."

Verde's voice was firm, warm, without hesitation.

Harry started at him with wide eyes, disbelieving, grateful and painfully hopeful.

His grandfather smiled at him softly, before closing his eyes in thought.

"I do not know you father very well, unfortunately. I don't know what kind of child he was, or how he grew up. But, from what I have seen, he was a truly honourable man when he married Lily. Brave and loyal to his loved ones to the death. So in his honour I name you Laurence – Leo- , after the laurel, which symbolizes honour and victory, for even in death his enemy has been thwarted.", he paused briefly to smile at the teary child, "You are a gift Harry. I pray for your happiness, wellbeing and that you may live a long life. I hope you will grow up to become another pillar to support our family. Thus, I name you Cedar, after the tree of the gods."

Verde reached out to wipe the tears, that had started falling as he talked, off Harry's face.

"And finally, I name you Evans. I welcome you once again, young Leo, to the Ancient Clan of Evans."

Leo had started sobbing openly now, and hugged Verde to his chest tightly.

"Th-thank you, thank you, th…"

Over and over, he thanked his granddad, for acquiescing by his request, for saving him, for accepting him. This meant more to him than words could describe. And Verde bore it all with understanding and kindness exclusive to close family, rubbed circles along his back in comfort and quietly assured them both that everything would be alright. Because IT WOULD be.

When Leo's sobs had quieted his grandson had wiped his face, Verde fetched them some drinks to continue their talk.

"Are you alright to continue, H- Leo?"

The new name would take some getting used to, but both felt quite happy with it.

"Yea, it feels more real now, you know? Having a family."

Leo felt as if a great burden he hadn't known he carried had been lifted. It was freeing.

"Good. The last pressing thing we need to talk about alludes to a professional I have invited to visit. To take a look at your scar."

His grandson was staring at him attentively, making a small noise in acknowledgment and question. He had been meaning to ask about that, if Verde hadn't addressed it now.

"The healer had detected a foreign magical aura lodged behind your scar. We aren't sure what it is, exactly, but we erected a temporary ward around it, so it cannot influence you, currently. This was the earliest he could come, however, so it had to suffice."

Leo went pale at that. His scar… foreign aura… could it be? "The chains…?", he muttered to himself. He had destroyed the yellow net, so that couldn't be it. Unless there was yet another foreign energy inside him?

"Cedar? Leo? Is something wrong?", Verde's concerned voice broke Harry out of his increasingly panicked thoughts.

"That is… you see… when my powers came out…"

Leo explained everything. How he had crudely, solely by instinct, fought against the black chains and shredded the yellow net, and how he had woven them into a net to protect himself from detection.

Verde listened, throwing in a question now and then.

"I see", he said finally, thoughtfully.

"You have truly been through a lot, Leo. I haven't said it, but I admire you a lot, for going through what you did, and for still being such an amazing child."

Leo smiled shily at that, a blush creeping into his cheeks. He wasn't that great.

"We had roughly guessed what happened, from the scans we did. Your powers are both healthy, if depleted from usage. The 'net' you wove has been effective to a degree, but it isn't actually dense enough to truly keep your powers from detection. The idea was a good one, however. It works more as a damper. It decreases the amount of magic or Flames you can use at a time. We had not touched it, since it was made from your own energy, but I recommend dissolving it soon."

Leo nodded at that. It made sense, now that he thought about it. The yellow ne had only served to hinder the energy flow as well. He just hadn't had any other ideas to try. It truly was simply luck that he hadn't been found by the Others before Verde had reached him.

"In fact, let's make this our first true lesson together, shall we?"

Leo's eyes lit up at that, eagerly nodding. He couldn't wait!

"Good. There will only be three rules for these lessons, Leo. 1 – Pay attention, if you cannot concentrate, tell me, and we will take a break. 2 – Ask questions, if you're confused or curious, but do not interrupt me. 3 – Don't argue with instructions I give, within reason, of course, and follow them without complaint. Can you agree to those?"

"Yes, grandpa!", Leo agreed without hesitation. He could do that.

"Then we'll now start the first lesson!"

Verde positioned himself behind his grandson and placed a hand between his shoulder blades.

"I will guide you in dissolving the net with magic. Then we'll practice some meditation techniques. Those are necessary to build and access a representation of your mind. The source of your Flames, the Nexus, can only be accessed through there.", he explained, "Are you ready, Leo?"

"Yes!", Leo chirped excitedly. He was excited to find the source of his Lightning. He wondered if it was as beautiful as his core?


	10. Chapter 8 - Horcrux

As Verde instructed Leo, the time flew by. Neither of them noticed the hours pass as Leo soaked up knowledge. He was very easy to teach and – after first being shy about asking questions – very fascinated and enthusiastic about the subject.

His flames felt amazing once he learned how to find them. It had taken a while, seeing as they weren't stationary, but moved around the manifestation of his soul space. They eagerly hummed under his skin once he learned how to call them up, not unlike they had last time. They were a bit calmer now, though, and easier to control now he was being instructed on how to use them right.

Just as he was getting ready to call them up once more to practice moving them around his body, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Leo had lost his concentration, so his flames quickly receded. He stared at his hand in disappointment.

"Don't worry, Leo. We've already made tremendous progress today, far more than I'd have imagined. Doing much more might even have been dangerous. You are a very quick study.", Verde reassured him with a small smile and ruffled his hair.

Leo scowled indignantly. His hair was already messy enough as it was, thank you very much! But… the gesture was strangely intimate. It felt warm and comforting... He supposed he could live with it.

After one last fond smile, Verde schooled his face and nodded at Leo. It was time to end the lesson for the day.

"Come in!", Leo called out, having caught on. It seemed the Specialist was here.

The door opened, and Bob poked his head inside.

"Viper has arrived. Shall I ask them to come here?"

Verde looked at Leo in question.

To be honest, Leo wasn't very comfortable inside his rooms yet. He felt that until they truly felt like his, he would be even less so when meeting strangers inside them. His body language seemed to convey his thoughts well enough, seeing as Verde quickly refused the notion.

"Thank you, Bob. We'll meet them in the meeting room instead. They should be waiting there anyways, correct?"

Bob nodded in acquiescence and promptly excused himself to return to his duties.

"Now, before we go, here is your room key. Even though my employees know better than to enter private rooms without permission it's still better to be safe, rather than sorry. There's only one of them so don't lose it. Bob and I are the only ones with access to the skeleton key for the base and both of us will be notified, should it be moved. This means you can be sure nobody enters without our knowledge. You are expected to keep your space clean and orderly yourself."

Leo could only stare at the key in Verde's small hand.

His throat closed up and his eyes burned as the words and their implication truly sunk in. He was being entrusted with this. It would truly be his own space. His to decorate and to retreat to if the world just got too much. He hadn't quite believed it until now. But… the key was a physical representation of it. Finally, he had a place to belong, somewhere where he was accepted and WANTED.

Shakily he took the key and held onto it like it was the most precious thing in the world. For him it was.

"I…", he swallowed down the tears about to roll down his eyes once more. "Thank you. I will be careful with it."

Verde simply smiled at that and waved for them to get going.

If there was a skip in Leo's steps the whole way, neither commented on it.

It took only a glance for Leo to conclude that Viper was suffering from the same curse as Verde. They were both around the same size and he, too, had a pacifier around the neck, that was designed like Verde's, just in a different colour.

The biggest clue was, however, that the closer they had gotten to the meeting room, the more Verde's green pacifier had started to glow. So did Viper's.

As a result, Leo knew the other was probably at least a decade older than him.

"Leo, this is the specialist I was telling you about, Viper. They are a very busy individual, so I appreciate that they took the time to help us out."

"Nice to meet you, Viper, sir! Thank you very much for agreeing to help me!"

Not knowing how else to express it, Leo automatically bowed slightly in thanks to emphasize his words.

"Muu, as long as you pay me, it's fine. Verde wouldn't ask for my help if he didn't need it. Just Viper is fine, and this is Fantasma.", they introduced themselves, pointing at the frog crouching at the top of their cloaked head.

One couldn't quite tell if one didn't know Viper, but Verde knew they were pleased with the respect Leo had shown them. It wasn't rare for them to be treated like the toddlers they seemed to be, at first that is, which meant this was quite the pleasant change.

Not being able to see their face, due to the long black cloak covering their whole figure, was quite disconcerting at first. But Leo didn't believe Verde would call in a bad person, and their words seemed to confirm it for now.

"Now, Verde. Who is this and why did you ask for me this time?"

"This is Leo, my grandson. He has only recently come into my care. The reason you are here is the scar on his head. The healers can't tell what it is, only that it is foreign magic and Leo tells me he suspects it to have tried to harm him recently."

Verde didn't need to elaborate for Viper to understand their friend. This was a confidential family matter not involving their life in the Mafia. They nodded and proceeded to wave Leo over.

"I will examine it and tell you what I make of it. If I can't help, I'll only charge the consultation fee."

After receiving a nod from Verde in confirmation, Leo walked over and stood before Viper. They were sitting on a chair so the both of them were around the same height.

He lifted his locks so they could take a better look.

Not showing any outward reaction, Viper reached out with their right hand to trace the famous scar. They knew exactly who this was now. They would have some questions for Verde after this.

Leo felt a small tingling where Viper's hand was resting on his forehead. It lasted for around a minute before Viper took back their hand and nodded.

"The thing inside your forehead is something called a Horcrux." Seeing Leo's questioning look, they elaborated. "It's basically a cut off part of someone else's soul."

Verde went pale at the revelation, having made the connection as to just who's soul piece that was and frantically thinking over their options.

Leo just felt sick. One could lose a part of their soul? How did that even work? Regardless of that, it must hurt to not have all of it!

"C-can we return it?"

Viper simply stared at him in confusion for a second. Usually people would want to get rid of it, right? But in the end, it wasn't their decision, they simply got paid to help out, so…

"Not right now.", he said slowly.

"It's been tainted by magical backlash. Once it's purified, it's main soul can reassemble it if they wish. The process will be quite painful for you, however. It's been there for much too long to leave you unaffected throughout. In fact, the process will most probably induce severe side-effects that have a 50% chance of being deadly for you."

Leo gulped at that. He… didn't want to die. But he didn't want someone to hurt because of him either!

"Th-then what can I do? Not having a whole soul hurts, right?"

Viper simply shook their head at him.

"Muuu… It won't make a difference in this case. Judging from the size of this piece the owner has quite a few other pieces lying around."

"S-so we can't help them? The other pieces…"

"Leo", Viper interrupted, "As admirable as your desire to help is, the soul piece you hold wasn't left there on purpose. Even if it was, seeing as it's affecting you and you want me to do so, I am allowed to help you. But the others might have been split off intentionally. It isn't our place to judge."

Someone would intentionally do that? Oh god!

Leo stared at Viper in disbelief until the warm hand of his grandpa closed around his bigger one. He looked at him in understanding.

"There are some desperate people in this world", he explained quietly. "For someone to die, their whole soul must move on, or none of the pieces will."

Leo's eyes lit up in comprehension.

"So that's why…"

He shuddered. Living without his complete soul… he didn't even want to imagine it.

"Th-then what do we do? I don't want it to attack me again"

He hated how weak and helpless his voice sounded at that moment. He didn't want to be helpless anymore, he wanted, no, needed, to be able to help himself. But he couldn't right now. He didn't know enough.

At that moment Leo swore to himself that he would learn. He would live to learn so he wouldn't be helpless anymore, so HE was the one helping others, not the one needing it instead.

He clenched his fists and stared at Viper in determination. He would be free from the black chains first, then he could dedicate his attention to gaining knowledge, and getting to know his grandpa, fully.

"Removing it isn't an option. Instead, you will assemble it. There is a ritual that will start the process. It will slowly take its course over a year. You will feel an overall increase in your power level and senses, as well as your mental capacity as a result. There won't be any truly detrimental side-effects, seeing as the ritual itself shields you from those."

Leo discussed this option with Verde. In the end, both of them agreed it was probably for the best. He had been worried about the original soul. They wouldn't have a complete soul again after this! It seemed the only effects it would have on them were slightly dulled senses and a reduced mental capacity - supposing all other soul pieces had been returned, that is. This was due to the fact that the size of the soul would be permanently reduced by a little. Leo decided to go ahead with it after that.

Viper would return the next day with all the materials they would need and left Leo with strict instructions to memorize until then. Soon, he would be free.

It took Leo most of the evening to learn his part of the ritual by heart. When he was finally satisfied, Verde had him re-enact the whole thing once. Once he agreed Leo was ready, he was dead tired and was asleep before Verde even left through the door.

That night he had his first nightmare about that day. The day his relatives nearly killed him.

He woke up sweaty, entangled in his bedsheets and hysterical. For a few seconds he didn't know where he was, only that it was dark and ohgodhewasbackinthecupboard and he. Couldn't. BREATHE.

Then, with a sob he got air and the memories rushed back in. He was on his bed at his grandpa's place. He was saved. He clung to those memories desperately, went over them again and again, just so he didn't have to think about his dream. 'Then again… what if you aren't?', a scared little voice in his head asked. He hadn't known the guy long and he seemed to mask his emotions most of the time? What if how he acted around him was a mask too? He couldn't trust him.

Why had he been so trusting and innocent yesterday? Did he do something to him? Something to make him act and think differently? He didn't know.

He shuddered. No, he wouldn't be convinced this easily. He didn't want to be betrayed and hurt again.

Not even 5 minutes after he woke up, there was a knock on the door.

"W-who is it?"

"It's Verde. May I come in?"

His voice sounded oddly hesitant and soft. Leo narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Sure"

Verde made his way over to his side, worry clear on his face.

"Are you alright? The medication was supposed to wear off last night, so…"

Ah, that explained the nightmare then, and, he supposed, his own actions the day before. Relieved, he took a deep breath. He had forgotten about that. All the more reason to be suspicious though. With medicine like that, who knew what else Verde could make him do, or think.

Still, he wouldn't lie. This was someone who hadn't harmed him in any way yet, so he deserved honesty at least. Until he proved untrustworthy.

"Nightmare", he simply confirmed.

"Do you want to talk about it?", Verde asked uncomfortably.

"Not really. I'll be fine.", Leo denied, "Thanks."

His grandpa nodded, slightly relieved despite himself.

"There is a spell.", he offered. "it will let me know if you're having a nightmare so I can come and wake you, if you want. I'd have to apply it everyday before you sleep. Just let me know, alright?"

Relieved he didn't expect an answer right away, Leo thanked him for the offer. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of being under surveillance like that. Verde let him know Viper would be by in around 2 hours, so they had just enough time to get ready.

When Viper did arrive, they headed to a room Leo hadn't been to before. It was completely empty.

Viper nodded in satisfaction and instructed them on how to set up the ritual.

The three of them worked in silence, the two Evans both starting to feel the nervousness. What if something went wrong? There were uncountable things that could happen.

But… it was better than having the soul inside bide its time until it could harm Leo once again.

After an hour of setting up bowls and drawing runes on the floor, Viper was satisfied with the setup and shooed them outside. He would purify the room and instructed Leo to return in 10 minutes in only a bathrobe. He had to undergo the ritual naked, so no foreign material could interfere and cause it to fail.

Leo was understandably nervous about this. Nobody had ever seen him naked before. They would be able to see all his scars and know just how much of a freak he was.

It didn't matter that the doctors had probably seen them. He hadn't been awake for that and hadn't had to dread their reactions. This was different.

Was it worth it?

That was the question.

Leo had contemplated this repeatedly over the last 16 hours. He always came to the same conclusion. Yes, yes it was.

Verde squeezed his hand reassuringly, a silent support. He was thankful that he didn't say anything. They had talked about it in detail already, there was no need for meaningless chatter now. Seeing no point in waiting any longer, he took a last deep breath to calm himself. Leo stepped into the room, discarding the bathrobe outside on a stool.

Viper was waiting for him inside. There were two white stripes on their black hood he hadn't noticed before, running towards where he estimated their eyes to be. They stood out sharply in the dim light.

With a nod in his direction, showing they were ready, Viper waved Leo into the empty space in the middle of the room. The cleansing was first.

Leo couldn't tell how much time had passed. He figured he had been in some sort of trance for most of it, induced by the strange smells invoked by some incense Viper had burned for the cleansing. When his mind cleared completely, only the last step was left.

Recalling the instructions he had memorized, Leo sat up into a meditative position and burrowed his hands into the powder in the bowls on either side of him. Viper stepped in front of him and drew some runes on his forehead around the scar and his chest before making their way towards his back.

Despite having expected it, Leo still flinched when Vipers hand connected to his back. They didn't comment on it, simply wiped off the failed rune and started again, more carefully.

Once it was done, they began chanting. This was the hard part.

Leo closed his eyes and slowly connected to his core. He had to ensure it didn't fight Vipers magic or the ritual would fail.

It seemed his magic was quite agitated due to the earlier rituals and his own twitchiness beforehand. He didn't really know how to meditate properly. They hadn't had the time to really get him started on it. Instead, he simply tried to fully concentrate on his magic and only his magic.

The soothing red colour of his core, the power that had saved and healed him time and time again.

It was working, somewhat. He didn't fully calm it down, but managed to sooth it enough that it didn't lash out right away once Viper's magic entered the runes. That was enough.

His magic could make out the intention of the cursed infant and, since it wasn't on alert as it had been earlier, did not disrupt it on principle.

Leo relaxed fully at that. So far so good.

Just when he went to disconnect from his core, the black chains returned and struck.

He felt like cursing. He had let down his guard too early!

The chains seemed to be weaker than they were last time, at least. He could work with that. He couldn't let them close off his core.

It seemed they had gotten sneakier, however. Instead of attacking head-on and chaining his magic, they instead turned their assault towards his connection to his power. They were trying to kick him out! If he didn't consciously steer his magic, the chains knew they would win!

Leo gritted his teeth in anger and determination.

It was no use, however. The connection he had to his core right now was nearly severed, since he had moved to disconnect it earlier and the chains wouldn't leave him enough time to re-establish it.

With a last gasp of fear, Leo's world went black.


	11. Chapter 9 - Tom Riddle

Tom Riddle was not a very patient man, he admitted to himself. And judging from his own memories he had painfully pieced together over the last few years, he wasn't a good one either. He hadn't really kept track of how long it'd been, too busy repairing the mess that his mind still was.

Tom was in disbelief, to say the least. What had he been thinking? How had he functioned with that wrapped mess his occlumency had turned into? How could he have let himself abandon his goals? His life's work? His very beliefs?

Some of the things he'd done had been downright abhorrent! Even without a body of his own, he felt stomach-turning nausea when reliving, rebuilding those memories.

How could he have let himself become a monster?

He hadn't been awake for long, scolding himself until he realized he was inside a living being. Seeing this as a chance to do SOMETHING to stop the madness that had obviously overcome his counterpart, he immediately tried to take over. Without a second thought or ascertaining what kind of being it was first. After all, it couldn't possibly be a human. Or so he had thought.

'Apparently...', Tom thought wryly to himself as he painfully nursed his head, 'I was wrong…'

He had caught glimpses of memories or maybe what was going on outside while he had fought to take over. His host was definitely a human.

Tom was really curious how that was possible. Everything he knew about magic dictated that long-term possession was deadly for the host. Yet his current one had lasted years already.

But… how could that possibly be the case?

Tom closed his eyes and grimaced as he re-examined his most recent memories.

His followers groveling by his feet, a latecomer –SNAPE, his mind supplied- a prophecy, panic and fear, a twisted sort of determination, the search, WORMTAIL, glee and satisfaction, his visit to the potters, green light, golden runes, pain…

Tom felt sick.

He was inside the child.

Harry Potter. He was possessing a CHILD.

Dear gods…

What… what was he going to do?

What COULD he do?

He could do many things, yet… all of them could and probably would be harmful to the child, or wouldn't be helpful.

The most he could do, was set up a slight connection, so he could see what the child, what Harry saw, hear what he heard.

Thus, all Tom could do was wait. Wait, regret and hope. Hope for an opportunity to repent, hope for something to come along and free the child of him before the corrupting nature of the horcrux magic did any irreversible damage.

Luckily, he did not have to wait long.

-POV-SWITCH-NO-JUTSU-

Leo was officially lost.

When he came to, he had been sitting next to a lake he did not recognize. How did he get here? Did his r- did Vernon leave him here while he was sleeping?

He was lying on some very comfortable moss, even though there were stones a few feet to the right… Definitely not his relatives then, he thought cynically.

„Hello, Leo. We meet at last", a smooth voice greeted him from his right.

For some reason, he was not surprised by the voice, despite the fact he hadn't know anyone was there just a second ago.

'Leo? That's… me, isn't it…'

Turning slightly to look for the origin of the voice, he owlishly blinked up at the stranger leisurely dangling his legs into the water a few feet away. His thoughts seemed to be sluggish and tangled. Regardless, he was sure he did not recognize this person.

He would remember if he had, since he looked quite unique. He seemed to be in his early 30s and had a very handsome, aristocratic face, framed by well-styled black hair that contrasted starkly with his pale skin. Coupled with his bright red eyes, his appearance alone was very memorable. That coupled with that unique voice that seemed to command attention, ensured that the man would leave an impression.

"Wh-who….?", Leo asked in an unsure voice.

"I apologize if I scared you. My name is Tom Riddle. You can call me Tom."

"Tom… Where is this? How did I get here?"

"We're inside your mind. One could also see this as the representation of your soul. Take your time and remember, Leo."

And remember Leo did. He turned back towards the water and silently tried to untangle his thoughts. The confusion clouding his mind cleared awfully slowly.

"If this is my mind, how come you are here… what? Are you…!?"

Leo whipped around to stare at Tom suspiciously. The other only graced him with a pained grimace in return.

"Yes, it is as you are probably thinking. I am the horcrux that resides behind your scar. I owe you an apology... I only became aware of what was going on AFTER that attack last time. I was in a state of hibernation before then."

The suspicion Leo felt did not ease at all. In fact, he grew even more cautious. Why did the soul piece drag him here? It hadn't hurt him yet… why?

"I wanted to talk to you. Face to face. Before I disappear.", Tom continued without prompt.

Leo's eyes widened as he once again remembered what the ritual would actually do and looked down with guilt. As a result, he never did see the sad smile Tom graced him with.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"No. Don't feel guilty. I can understand why you would find my presence dangerous, especially after that day. I nearly killed you, Leo. No, I would do the exact same thing, were I in your position. While I thank you for your compassion and hesitation in destroying me, it is necessary."

"But you're awake now, right? We coul…", the boy said stubbornly.

"Leo", Tom interrupted with a shake of his head, "Even if it was not too late to stop the ritual, this is not permanent. A horcrux isn't able to be aware for long. Even if it was possible for me to stay awake, the very nature of a horcrux can and will corrupt the host it is bound to. As it is, I inhabit your mindscape while I'm aware, and can experience everything you do. But eventually, your mind will reject me. This would have happened again. I have already come to terms with this outcome."

Tom had gotten up and crouched next to him as he explained, a serene smile on his face. Ignoring the disbelieving stare the small boy graced him with, he gently patted Leo's head.

"Thank you, Leo. You have a very good heart."

"…", Leo really had no idea how to reply to that. Because he knew that the ritual had been as good as done. There really was nothing that could be done now, even if Viper agreed to abort the whole thing.

So, they sat in silence as the about-to-vanish piece of soul comforted the sad child.

An undeterminable time later, when tears had faded and he had composed himself, Leo finally broke the silence.

"You said you wanted to speak to me… Wh-what did you want to talk about?"

"You don't mind listening to me? Despite what I did to you?", Tom asked in genuine surprise. This had been going way better than he had assumed it would.

Leo took a deep breath before explaining his reasoning.

"You haven't hurt me yet even though you had plenty time to while I was trying to remember earlier. Which is why I'm guessing you either can't hurt me in my own mind or don't want to. In either case, I simply agreed to listen to what you have to say, not do anything for you."

"That's true, isn't it. But Leo, while currently, I do not wish to hurt you, you'll soon find that things aren't always as simple as they seem. If I really wanted to, I could still harm you."

Despite those words, Leo was not discouraged.

"You admitting that much only means I made the right decision. You not having attacked already means you still have some use for me or genuinely don't want to hurt me, so currently you aren't going to do anything to me."

"I see…", Tom said, lips twitching in amusement. 'No arguing against that one', he mused.

"Just make sure to be cautious in the future. Some people are so good at masking their ill intentions, they themselves start to believe themselves to be just. Your heart and sense of justice can be a great weapon, but it can also be a great weakness to exploit."

Leo did gulp at those words. Was he being called naïve? He supposed he was. After all, he had not yet learned a lot or seen much of the world. Yet, Leo understood caution. And that's what Tom's words came down to.

He nodded.

Tom studied him for a long while until he seemingly found what he had been looking for and started his explanation.

"There are four things I'd like to talk about. Even if you don't understand right now, please remember them and talk to your granddad about them as soon as you wake up, OK? He'll need to know these things to be able to keep you safe."

Leo frowned. That sounded quite ominous. 'Did I make a mistake after all… what if this is a trick?'

"What if I can't remember it all?", Leo asked instead of voicing his suspicions.

"Don't worry", Tom said, "this is basically a dream. The only difference is that you'll be able to remember it fully after you wake up. Seeing as this is happening in your mind, that means time doesn't truly matter much. It can only affect us if you want it to. We can go over this as many times as you want to."

'Right', Leo thought, 'This is my mind. I can do whatever I want here. Even if he can harm me here, I can still fight back if I need to.'

He nodded, motioning for Tom to start. He would listen to what the soul piece had to say first.

"First, regarding the ritual you just underwent. I can assure some of your worries. It was designed to forcefully strip me of my power and only my power and merge it into your own. After that, this part of my soul will not be able to sustain its independence and will be attracted and swallowed by the closest other piece of my soul. That means my soul can still become complete."

At the stunned look on Leo's face, Tom couldn't help the genuine smile the spread on his face. This was why he loved teaching. The fascination, excitement and shock of his pupils as they learned something new… it was addicting.

"The study of the soul is very complex and difficult, so even Viper didn't know about this. However, as the soul piece in question I have insider information on the process, so to speak.", he winked, "They weren't wrong regarding the side-effects though. Since you will absorb part of my power, my senses and mental capacity as a whole will be slightly affected, but that's all. And that would only matter if I ever became whole again. So seriously, don't take it to heart, you hear?"

"Are you just saying that so I don't keep feeling guilty…?", Leo asked suspiciously.

Tom shook his head in denial.

"If you don't believe me, there are soul magic seminars offered for advanced students in Mahoutokoro. They were included in the information, remember? Just be sure to be very careful. Soul magic is dangerous"

Leo did remember that. He determined to look into it, if only to ascertain Tom's words.

Recognizing the gleam in the small boy's eyes, Tom smiled in satisfaction. Encouraging studies through curiosity was his biggest pride as a teacher! Even though he never did get to become one…

"The second thing is that, since this piece of my soul is so small, it became warped. My power cannot truly be separated from everything else. Even the ritual didn't manage to untangle it all. You will most likely receive some, if not all my memories along with it. Even though this is supposed to happen over a whole year, that kind of influx is very dangerous. Memories shape who we are, Leo. My life was a lot longer than yours. There are a lot of memories and I cannot control which ones will bleed over to you."

Tom swallowed as he once more patted Leo's head. This time more as a way to calm himself than the child. He really rather there were no memories at all.

"I'm not proud of some of the things I did, Leo. Gruesome things nobody should witness, least of all a child. Your grandpa MUST take precautions and seal those memories until your Occlumency is good enough to keep them separate from your own at the very least."

"Occlumency is magic that helps protect and sort your mind.", he explained at Leo's questioning look, "In fact, it would be best if he had a mind healer permanently on staff for the next year. Just in case… They should also be able to check for those memories you believe have been removed. Maybe they can yet be retrieved. Those memories MUST be controlled, Leo. Otherwise, your personality could become affected. You could even lose your mind."

At the reminder of the Others, Leo shivered in dread. He was tempted to ask the soul piece if it knew anything about them, but something in his eyes stopped him before he could make a sound.

"It's not my place to make assumptions, Leo.", Tom said apologetically, "I was not aware at the time, so I cannot say for sure… I'm sorry."

Leo shook his head.

"It's OK. Grandpa promised he'd be there from now on. We can slowly find out. As long as they don't come again and take me away…"

"They won't.", Tom said with conviction, "They will take a long time to find you again, and by then the memories they would have to take away would be too many."

Leo smiled unsurely at the reassurance, not quite convinced but not being able to argue. He had no knowledge of mind magic after all.

Seeing as this was the best he was most likely going to get, Tom chose to skip to his next point.

"My next point will build on the last one.", he said seriously.

"Leo, regardless of how complete and convincing a memory you receive from my soul piece may seem. Do not under any circumstances trust it. Some of the memories will have been warped by time, or by madness, some will contain outright wrong information, many will be outdated. You may use them to guide your studies, to discover new interests, even to just learn more about the lunatic who took your parents from you. But never fully rely on any of those memories. You MUST confirm any knowledge or skills you gain from them. In fact, this is true for any memories of others you may encounter."

He grabbed the boy by his shoulders as he said it. He had to make sure this point sank in.

"Promise me, Leo."

Leo gulped at the dead serious look he received.

"You think I won't always get the whole story", he reasoned out. "Or that you learned some wrong things…"

"Yes, among other things. It's important that you don't just believe what they show you."

"I understand."

"Promise me."

"I promise. I will confirm first before believing any of the memories I get from you."

"Then, I can be relieved.", Tom smiled.

"The last thing I have to tell you is a warning to you and your grandpa both. Your granddad may already suspect this, but the person who pointed me in the direction of your family during the war was Dumbledore. He is an important figure in the British magical enclave and was my main opponent during the war. Even though you magically and legally changed your name, despite all the other precautions I'm sure have been taken…. Do not for a moment believe my main soul piece and Dumbledore will not find you. There will be traces, no matter what you do to remove them and eventually they will catch up, especially if you become active in the magical community. Both of them are lunatics that will stop at nothing to get what they want."

"B-but… why me? I mean I never did anything to either of them…?"

"Leo, I'm sorry I had to scare you like this. I just had to show you how serious this is. No, you never did do anything. I only have an assumption as to why Dumbledore will come for you, so I can't say for sure. I can tell you however, that he made my main soul believe that you were one of the two only people capable of killing him."

"What!? I…"

"I know, Leo", Tom soothed, "you were and still are a child, an innocent. Maybe Dumbledore had something to gain from the Potter family, maybe they did something to make him upset enough to have them killed. There are many possibilities, some more likely than others. But in the end, only the man himself knows. One thing is for certain. He is stubborn. Once he believes something it's close to impossible to change his mind. Be careful and be prepared for when they catch up to you, alright?"

At Leo's nod, he clapped in satisfaction, a light-hearted grin on his face.

"Great! Then let's see how much of that you still remember, shall we?"

Caught off guard by the sudden shift in atmosphere, Leo had to collect his thoughts for a moment before obediently repeating everything he still remembered.

They had to go over everything two more times before he remembered everything to Tom's satisfaction.

"Good, now, do you have any questions?"

And Leo did. He asked and then asked some more.

And before they knew it the conversation had strayed to other topics. Tom didn't seem to mind and neither did Leo. He felt like the Tom Riddle he had met was not a bad person and he wanted to get to know him before he vanished. He still remembered what his grandpa told him.

'People don't truly die until they are forgotten.'

He felt like Tom shouldn't be forgotten. No, this piece of soul, this person who had taken it upon himself to warn him and try to help him even though he would be destroyed by him, he would not forget. Even if the soul piece only did this to gain something or out of guilt, hiring additional tutors and being more careful wasn't anything that could harm him. Once he was awake, he would talk to his grandpa. They would take precautions. Even if what Tom told him today was absolutely wrong, there was no such thing as being too safe or too prepared.

"Say, Tom. You said this is my mindscape, right?"

"Yes"

"Then can I come back here?"

"In theory, of course. It IS your mind, Leo. It will probably take some time though. Returning will be easier than normal since you've already been here, but it will take effort and patience to learn it regardless."

Leo nodded, not having expected anything else.

"Will I learn that in Occlumency?"

"Perhaps. It's an advanced skill, so if you work hard, I'm sure they will teach you if you ask."

"Awesome! So will I always feel so confused when I first come here?

Leo wrinkled his nose at the thought. He had not enjoyed that feeling. He liked being able to think, thank you very much!

Tom's lips twitched at the expression. He briefly considered teasing the child about it, but decided against it.

"No, you'll gradually get used to the transition. It took around a month for the confusion to disappear completely for me."

Finally, before Leo could start barraging him with more questions, Tom let out a long sigh and turned to Leo.

"I hate to say this, but we cannot stay here forever, Leo. Even though this is a dream and time moves differently here, it never stands still. You should return"

Swallowing down his automatic denial, Leo instead nodded.

"Okay", he whispered tonelessly, before gathering his courage and hugging the older man tightly.

"Thank you, Tom. I'm happy you warned me. About the memories and everything. I- I'll miss you."

To his credit, Tom only stayed frozen in shock for about a minute before gently hugging the child back.

"Then, repeat everything for me, one more time", Tom finally said.

Leo did.

Silently they set off back towards the lake. They had at one point moved towards a small grove to enjoy the shade. Leaving it behind left Leo feeling empty.

Leo didn't cry once they arrived at their destination, but only just.

"C-can I ask you one last thing?", he asked instead. This was the last chance he was going to get to ask this. He had wanted to many times, but had never quite found the courage.

"Of course"

"You talk as if you and the rest of your soul aren't the same person…"

"I was wondering when you were going to ask about that…", Tom admitted.

"That's because we aren't. Not really. I was a rash idiot. You see, I was really scared of dying, Leo. Dumbledore had started making a move against me. He is a very powerful wizard, someone I couldn't hope to match at all at the time. So, in my desperation to preserve my life I created a horcrux without properly researching it first. I did not care about the possible side-effects at all. So, I halved my soul, and did it again and again, never realizing how it affected me, how it still affects me. My main soul isn't much different from a beast, Leo. He cannot think clearly, cannot control his emotions, his desires, his instincts. He's not capable of objectivity or anything but the mere illusion of leadership. His goals, my goals, my original dreams, and the whole reason I started what would later evolve into that farce of a war, he's forgotten it all. He… we, are beyond hope at this point, Leo. That beast who is controlled by rage and hate can never feel guilt, he can never reintegrate the other pieces to return to who he was, who we were."

Tom trailed off sadly before turning to Leo with a look of determination.

"Listen to me, Leo. I was never a good person, even before that. I am not a good person, I only talked to you for my own benefit, for my own peace of mind. Don't think too much into it."

"You should learn from our fate, Leo. Don't make the same mistake we did. You must not rush possibly life-altering decisions. Don't let an enemy corner you into making mistakes. Don't panic. Think. Inform yourself. Knowledge is power. Your brain is your greatest weapon. Develop and use it well and nothing is beyond you."

With those words Tom squeezed Leo's shoulders one last time and before he could reply, pushed him over the edge and into the water.

"Farewell, my friend… and thank you."

His friend's, because that what he had become, goodbyes still ringing in his ears, Leo woke up with a start, the worried faces of his tiny grandpa and Viper hovering over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and happy new year everyone!
> 
> I am grateful to all of you for making the past year just that much more fun. Hearing your thoughts and seeing how many people keep up with and enjoy the story my brain came up with has been a great motivator to keep going. Thank you!
> 
> How ever irregular and sparse the updates may be/become, I'd just like to let you know that I'm not planning on dropping it, I'm just quite busy with work and rarely find the time to properly sit down and work on it. Thank you for being patient with me, I really appreciate it! 
> 
> That being said I hope you stay healthy and happy throughout 2021 aswell!


	12. Blurb 2 - Dumbledore's Lament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short interlude

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore did not make mistakes. Mistakes were things that happened to other people, to the stupid sheep he had been generous enough to volunteer himself to lead. Even Gellert made them, bless him.

He loved the man, don't take him wrong. Otherwise he wouldn't have spared his life and hidden that fact from those who were incapable of forgiveness. Those incapable of comprehending that sometimes, sacrifices were necessary, to ensure a brighter future.

He had never discarded their beliefs. Those beliefs were his foundation, the actions stemming from them the reason he enjoyed the position he currently held. The position at the top.

He held the Minister's ear, tens of thousands of people listened to his tune. Thousands of those, he had held a hand in raising himself.

Yet still, it was not enough. He, the greatest wizard of the century, wanted more. What he wanted, was immortality. Ever since his dear sister Ariana had perished – not a mistake, he repeatedly told himself, not his fault. Maybe one day he'd believe it…

Ever since she had perished, he had become aware of his own mortality. No matter how smart he was, how much he nurtured his power, someday his end would still come.

That was unacceptable.

Who would implement their plans, who uphold the greater good? Even Gellert, the smart and charismatic wizard that he was, a wizard taught by the same teacher as himself, had failed.

No, except for him, there currently was no one. Their ideology must survive, his hard work, his sacrifices could not go to waste.

So, he had to stay alive.

'Even', he lamented, a strange glint in his eyes,' at the cost of a long-time friend and mentor.'

Dumbledore felt regretful at what he was about to do.

So much experience and knowledge would be lost with his friend's passing. Yet once again his wand would not waver. It was for the Greater Good. He could not hesitate. All this would not have been necessary, if just his friend was willing to share… Alas, it may be better this way. Relying on someone else for his own survival would never have sat well with Dumbledore. Nobody had power over HIM, he only had power over others.

He was already close, so very close to his prize.

"What", a voice snapped sharply from behind his back, "do you think you're doing!?"

Dumbledore whirled around in surprise, wand still half-raised to cast the last spell, to unravel the last obstacle between him and the Philosopher's Stone. Between him and wealth and LIFE.

"Nicholas!"

That was the last thing he remembered before waking up on the cold stone floor of his office, bones aching and with the worst headache he had experienced in his life.

So great was Albus Dumbledore's headache that he chose to ignore the sensor chirping at him, telling him of what was probably yet another half-baked attempt at running away from his newest pawn. It wouldn't hurt to wait. It wasn't like he couldn't track the brat. It just meant there'd be a couple more memories to erase. He had become an expert at that, a necessary evil over the years.

No, doing damage control was way more important. Nicholas was his only clue to prolonging his life without great cost. He could not allow the man to distrust him!

No, Albus Dumbledore did not make mistakes.

Yet, the world seemed to disagree.


	13. Chapter 10 - Thoughts and decisions

Verde stood in place, frozen solid.

He had no idea what to do. He had no idea about parenting, period. It had been going so well, Leo had accepted him to an extent and had been willing to get to know him, to give him a chance.

Yet now the child was hysterical, he could not do anything but watch like a statue as Viper frantically ascertained that everything had turned out as it should have.

Leo had passed out for a solid few minutes once the ritual had been completed. Passing out even for a few seconds is already dangerous, so they had been understandably worried. Nothing they had done had allowed him to wake up.

Verde was convinced he had been close to a heart attack from the relief he felt when Leo finally woke up. All he wanted to do now was hug him and never let him go again.

Instead, he evaded the hit Viper was unconsciously about to deliver to his cheek as they fluttered around his grandson, casting spells and muttering to themselves.

"Leo? Leo, are you alright? What happened? Why are you crying!?"

He cursed the fact that his voice sounded shaky. He finally got his act together a little and tried to calm the child down by talking. The books said hugs were the most ideal but talking calmly was a close second, apparently. Dear Lord, he wasn't made for this. Wasn't parenting supposed to be instinctual or something? Why was he floundering so much already!?

"T-Tom… *hic*, h-he… NOOoo"

Leo shook off Viper's prodding hands and curled into a tight ball as he sobbed.

Alarmed, Verde and Viper shared a look over the child's head.

Viper nodded at Verde, indicating that, from what they could tell, Leo was still himself, the horcrux was indeed gone and all was as it should be.

Then, they fled the room. They had never been the best with children and decided to leave them some privacy, the traitor.

The door closed behind them with an ominous click, making him flinch.

'Oh, stop being dramatic', Verde angrily scolded himself, 'The door closing did not sound ominous and this situation is definitely not scary.'

Verde shook himself and forced himself to approach his small, well big if compared to his current size, grandson.

He wasn't big enough to scoop the kid up like he felt the urge to. Which was perhaps not a bad thing. He doubted the youth would have reacted favourably to suddenly being lifted. This way, he would not make THAT mistake, at least.

Thus, he settled for gently petting his hair and running soothing circles along his back, all the while blabbering reassurances.

"It's alright, Leo. You'll be okay, you're safe. Nobody can hurt you now."

Sappy phrases like these continued to spill from his mouth, and for once, Verde wouldn't even have cared if anyone was watching, any thoughts of embarrassment or how others may view his actions gone from his mind.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his actions seemed to work. Sobs turned to sniffles and his shaking relaxed into a slight rocking motion.

'Maybe I'm not completely hopeless at this after all', Verde thought in relief.

Leo felt miserable. His chest ached and he was half convinced he was breathing some sort of smoke with how raw his throat felt just then. Tom was gone, his friend was gone. He had finally made one, a real one. Someone warm and kind and… and lost him just as quickly.

Was he not meant to have one?

'No', he scolded himself, reminded by the tiny hand on his back, 'I knew he'd vanish right from the start.'

Yet, he had still befriended the shard. He had been so gentle, so nice, so understanding. Nothing at all like he had imagined the villain that took his parents from him to look and act like. He had become curious and shortly thereafter… let his guard down.

But, if his words could be believed, Tom wasn't that person. He desperately wanted to believe them, yet… he had no idea why. Why did he trust Tom so easily, why did he believe every word the other said? Why was he so affected by his loss? Why?

It didn't feel right, something didn't feel right, yet… he couldn't bring himself to care or hate it, any of it. He had truly enjoyed the time they had spent together.

It hurt.

He missed that place.

His grip on his knees tightened as he mentally replayed the time they spent there once more. It had been so peaceful there… He almost wished he could go back and never return.

Yet…

"G-grandpa Verde?", he flushed. His voice sounded really small and pathetic from crying like that

"Yes, Leo?"

Leo had nearly forgotten. In his grief and because of the pain he suddenly felt in his heart, he had nearly broken his promise. That wouldn't do. Promises weren't things to be broken.

'At least', he swore to himself silently, mind flashing back to empty promises and sweet temptations that always ended in pain and disappointment, 'I don't want to be such a person, ever.'

Thus, Leo started his explanation.

"That is… at the end of the ritual when I passed out, I actually met him."

Verde had a sinking feeling in his stomach. It couldn't be…

"I met Tom Riddle."

-o('^')o-

Verde silently closed the door to Leo's room. The child had finally fallen asleep.

He felt… tired.

The revelations of the past hour had been… enlightening, to a degree, but most of all they had been deeply concerning.

What unsettled him the most was the sheer trust and reverence his traumatized grandson seemed to regard the murderer of his parents, of Lily, with.

From the expression on his face, offended, defensive, angry, when he had asked about that fact, Verde had refrained from poking any more holes into the perfect image Leo had created of the man.

There had been no tampering done to his grandson's mind, according to Viper. He would ask them to check again.

He really, really hoped the mist user was wrong, because if they weren't… Verde knew very well what that meant.

If they weren't… Leo had just lost his sky. His small, way-too-young grandson may just have lost a flame bond.

The possibility was just too harrowing to consider.

Verde closed his suddenly burning eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly feeling even older than his actual age.

Somehow… he would also have to find a way to thoroughly disabuse the boy of any notion he may have developed of helping that man. He could and would not lend a hand to the man who had killed his daughter, regardless of what had led to the action.

The madman had robbed him of his most precious person, his daughter, and just as they had begun bonding properly as well, after all his mistakes. He had robbed Verde of the chance to properly make up his shortcomings to his baby girl. That was not something Verde could forgive.

That was something to think of later, however.

There were more pressing matters right now.

He had to re-examine his cover-ups once again, for one. Next was, to come up with even more contingencies in case of discovery by the main soul of that lunatic.

Mayhaps he could even look into destroying the rest of the murderer's horcruxes to assure himself the man would not return… That was, of course, a course of action he would have to plan and consider most carefully… and secretly.

The man had indicated that Albus Dumbledore himself would also need to be guarded against. He would have to tailor some of his contingency plans for the eventuality that the man was an enemy. While he currently couldn't be sure about that, being cautious wouldn't hurt. If the shard did not deceive them, then all the better. If he had, no harm done. It wasn't like Verde planned to foolishly charge in and antagonize the man.

Finally, a trustworthy and capable Occlumency teacher needed to be hired for Leo as soon as possible. Preferably yesterday.

Perhaps the most important point though, in Verde's opinion, was honing Leo's logical and analytical thinking skills. The child needed to learn not to neglect certain factors when judging a situation and not to be so fast to get invested.

While Leo had indeed gotten a taste of the cruelty of the world, he was still a child. He was still somewhat naïve and altogether too trusting, despite the circumstances. He would have to make sure that changed once he grew up and was ready for it.

Ripping the rose-coloured glasses from someone's face was never an easy thing to do. If done wrongly, the person could be irreversibly traumatized, or it could have the opposite effect from the intended.

Plus… Leo may well come to hate him for doing it.

No, he would have to consider his approach most carefully. For now, he forcefully shelved those thoughts. He was awfully flustered, and his way of thinking was suffering for it. It wouldn't do to be hasty with important decisions.

No, he had fallen into that trap before, he was not about to repeat the same mistake.

Getting started on Occlumency, that was the most pressing problem to be addressed currently.

That was actually another issue he had wanted Viper's help with. The informant was his best bet at finding someone he could somewhat trust with Leo's as of yet unguarded mind. Occlumency had been a must even before this mess. The current situation just made it more urgent.

With a long-suffering sigh and a dawning headache, Verde pushed open the door to the meeting room where Viper was awaiting his return and joined his fellow cursed infant for some calming tea.

Viper listened quietly as Verde relayed what Leo had told him, ending with the request that Verde knew he could never agree to. The request to help his daughter's murderer.

The resulting silence stretched on as Viper stared at him.

He couldn't tell what they were thinking, their expression hidden below their trusty hood.

Finally, they sighed, muttering something under their breath that sounded suspiciously like "Troublesome… And here I always thought REBORN was the troublemaker of the group… don't get paid enough for this…"

"So", they finally asked aloud. "What are we going to go about it?"

We. They wouldn't leave Verde to fend for himself. He… honestly couldn't start to put into words how much that relieved him.

The silence continued once more as Verde thought.

"First", he started ", we need to decide on an Occlumency tutor. Even if the shard lied to Leo, all that'd happen is that he learns occluding, sorting, and protecting his mind."

"Mou…", the hooded toddler nodded in agreement. They hesitated for a second before grudgingly continuing. "I'll give you a discount."

Verde blinked at them in shock. Had he misheard?

"Why am I even telling you this…", the toddler grumbled but still decided to explain.

"From what Leo told us, he very well could have lost control of his mind, had Riddle not decided to change personalities. That means… I made a mistake. My information was incomplete"

The last words sounded forced. Understandably. Viper never agreed to help without thorough research and preparation. Their knowledge and information gathering was their pride. Ever since the curse, they were even more cautious. The fact that they had overlooked something and put the protegee of one of his few true friends at risk… it was grating. They had to make up for it somehow. Yet, despite the guilt they felt, they just couldn't bring themselves to offer their help for free.

"In return", they hastily added, making it seem like a demand rather than the peace offering it was, "I want to be present until the assembly is complete and study the phenomenon."

That's right. In other words, he was offering to watch over Leo for free… for a year.

Verde was flabbergasted. True, something unexpected had happened and he had secretly blamed the Mist for it at least a little... Subconsciously though, he had admitted that Viper would've been the only one he'd ever have trusted with Leo, despite slightly more accomplished options being available. Yet, he had never thought… the other would react like this.

Times like this once more illustrated why he had befriended and trusted the miser.

He smiled gratefully.

"I would also like your counsel on the other tutors I plan on hiring for Leo. Yet, for obvious reasons, the Occlumency instructor should be contacted and hired as soon as possible"

Viper nodded. "Give me a list of subjects and I'll see whom I can find. It will cost you though. Full price."

Verde's lips twitched. The world made sense again.

"Of course. Let me know the amount later. Then, let's talk about candidates…", Verde started, only to trail off as someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Bob."

"Come in."

Bob did so. He stepped two steps forward before stopping and nodding at Verde and Viper in greeting.

"Sir, there's a visitor outside"

Verde's gaze sharply zeroed in on his face. No alarm had been sounded, meaning that the visitor was one of the very few people he had on his safe list, or they were too powerful for them to stop.

"Aria of the Giglio Nero asks to speak with you"

Well, Shit.


	14. The Tutors - Part 1

"She," Viper grumbled with a last glance at the Mafia boss' disappearing back, "can be awfully much like Luce at times."

Verde refrained from cursing in agreement at that statement, if only just. She pulled stuff like this and still wondered why Viper and himself never even tried to harmonize with her. Not that she'd let them. She was just like her mother Luce in that regard, desiring the control over them she'd have if they held any hope for a bond, yet having no intention of actually committing.

The Giglio Nero were cruel like that.

The temptation was oh so great, her flames whispering of harmony, of home, of belonging, and of acceptance. They had never met a sky with purer flames, strong enough to coax their own… until Luce, and her daughter.

They had fallen for it, once. They weren't stupid enough to do so again.

It wasn't like they were judging her by her mother's actions either. They had given her a chance, a chance to explain, to trust them, to show them that she actually gave a damn about them, in contrast to her traitorous mother.

She hadn't taken it.

The other holders of the curse, the rest of the Arcobaleno, still clung to that hope. They still chose to keep up the pretense, to care for her, to set themselves up for yet another betrayal down the lane.

Viper and Verde... they were too realistic for that. They would not let the family of Seers take advantage of them again. The future... it was something they did not believe was set in stone. The path the Seers had chosen and pushed upon the whole world as well... wasn't one they had the right to choose in the first place.

The ability of seers was still well regarded to this day. As a warning, as an indication of what could be, if certain actions were taken or not taken. The wizarding communities, ironically enough, generally knew this better than the Giglio Nero, who had had the ability for generations. Seers, arithmancers, and diviners found regular employment there, as advisors to both businessmen and politicians alike. Some ministries even had whole departments just made up of them. They compiled their results, analyzed them, and gave out appropriate advice, which was then taken into account in the decision-making process. They were never taken as gospel though.

No, the Giglio Nero were bad news. They may not necessarily have bad intentions, yet they surely were not good people.

This revelation among many other similar moments had set the two Arcobaleno on the path to true friendship. And meetings like the one they just had with the younger woman just confirmed their stance.

"Their obstinacy seems to be a genetic disease of sorts," Verde confirmed while pushing up his glasses in thought. "It may be worth studying…. I'll set up an experiment or 10…" mumble mumble.

"Mou… As if she could get any information from me without paying. I should double my rate just to make a point"

Verde smirked knowingly. The miser's rates differed from person to person, and sometimes depending on their mood and whims… a fact the others surprisingly had yet to figure out. Really, the only reason anyone still came to them for information was because Viper was simply the best. They could afford to be inconsistent with their pricing just because of that.

"Regardless of how satisfying rebuffing her curiosity was," Verde stated as they were once more sat in the safety of his meeting room, "Her visit worries me."

Viper nodded in understanding. It wasn't the visit itself but rather the timing of it. Had she seen something? Yet, if she had then she would have asked different types of questions… Which meant…

"Mou… either some of her visions changed in a confusing way, or she can't see something anymore that she could before. Something that has to do with you.", Viper grumbled.

The look of grim determination Verde shot them made it clear that he had come to the same conclusion. And while Verde would have been gleeful any other day the seer's visions changed, proving to the control freak that her visions weren't the be-all and end-all she considered them to be…

He suspected that Leo was the cause. The implications, if that were the case, were not something Verde wanted to think about. He did it anyway.

The types of visions the Giglio Nero cared about enough to investigate personally, always involved the Mafia. More specifically, either their own family, the Acrobaleno or some kind of foundation they did not want to change.

Aria had proven especially relentless when it came to actions the Acrobaleno would take that she did not approve of. Her meddling had directly led to the death of most of their fellow Arcobaleno Fon's family, just because she had stopped the man from pulling them out of the Triads' influence.

A fact which Fon did not hold against her. The few survivors sure did, considering they up and vanished one day, only leaving behind a note cutting ties with the man. And wasn't that just all kinds of messed up.

He was just thankful that the woman appeared unable to make sense of what she saw or did not see.

That meant he had more time to prepare possible countermeasures for whatever she cooked up. Coming here and alerting him to her interest had been a mistake on her part. Then again, the woman never HAD taken them seriously, too used to getting her way, so he wasn't all that surprised by her open prying.

It was insulting, really.

Alas, that meant he would have to add even more to his plate than his already overflowing mental schedule already held.

Verde smirked. He so adored the challenge.

He would spare no effort at all in keeping Leo safe and away from the Mafia. A few sleepless nights meant nothing.

As long as he had anything to say about it, the acquaintance of Viper was the closest his grandson would ever come to the corruption of the underworld, he would ensure it. He did not want his now most precious person to make the same mistakes he had. Differently from how it may seem at first, the Mafia gnawed at you, pushed, pulled, squeezed, and prodded until there was no possibility of getting out until it had consumed you without even leaving a speck of dust behind.

Verde himself had only just managed to be considered independent, to not be tied to any one power that could toy with him as it pleased. If he had been able to use magic to its fullest potential, he might have been able to fully ditch the underworld and disappear. But for some reason magic worked differently around flames.

It worked pretty unpredictably when used on flame users and research in the subject was progressing quite slowly, causing him to be unable to ensure magic stayed unknown to the more powerful forces of the underworld should he use it. If the Mafia somehow got their hands on certain magical creatures or even got some less upstanding Magicals to join their ranks… the world would never be the same.

"Mou, it's not like we can get away with looking into her mind to make sure… so just prepare for the worst you can, and let's talk teachers for the Chibi."

Verde nodded.

"You may not be aware of this, since they keep this secret closely guarded, but the goblin race is in fact, one of the most susceptible race to mind magics in existence."

"What!? But… then how come the world thinks they're basically immune!?"

Verde couldn't help but lose his composure at this news, a sight the informant no doubt enjoyed tremendously, judging by their delighted grin.

"Why, it's because of their strong focus on and continuous efforts in mind magics, of course. The best mind healers in the world belong to the goblin race, they just don't advertise that fact."

"Hooo…", Verde knew where this was going already. He had told Viper of the Goblins' blunders just earlier today after all.

"I'm assuming their fixation with tomb raiding has something to do with it", he commented drily, after taking a moment to collect himself and think things over.

"As sharp as ever", Viper commented.

"Then, what other useful things have they hidden?", Verde asked with a cunning gleam in his eyes.

"Mou… In return for this information, I want you to include renting one of their treasures in your conditions."

He would have done that regardless if they had only asked but he understood Viper was more comfortable suggesting deals rather than offering nothing in return.

"Which one?", he asked curiously instead of agreeing.

"One fragment of the chains of heaven."

Verde raised his eyebrows at that. From what he remembered the chains of heaven were said to be able to bind even a god back when they had still been intact. But all efforts to repair them had been in vain and even the fragments of it had been lost to time. Except for historical value, the fragments themselves were barely of any use though. He wondered why Viper wanted them. Regardless, borrowing them shouldn't be hard, the circumstances being what they were.

"Alright."

"Mou, if you concede some oaths of secrecy and non-compete, having them teach their more well-known specialties of smithing, gemcraft, enchanting and curse-breaking shouldn't be too hard of course, just make sure they agree to teach truly everything. Besides those, goblins have connections to many of the best of each field and personally control the most well-renowned warders out there. In addition, every individual royal tutor is well qualified to teach all basic subjects up to international college standards, be they magical or not.", Viper hinted.

"The most useful though would be if you could negotiate for permanent access for Leo to their knowledge archive, to the royal library. Goblins themselves only obtain permission to access it in rare cases and then never permanently or freely, but if you get them to agree to this, Leo will have the best foundation he could ever have."

Verde's doubtfully raised eyebrows were all it took for Viper to elaborate further.

"Mou, while it may not be the most extensive, the goblins have amassed a considerable amount of specialized and forgotten knowledge through excavations which would all be accessible. That isn't why I say that though. The library is built upon a stasis field. Time does not move within. It just gets expanded ever so slightly when additions are made to the collection"

Verde sucked in a sharp breath.

Viper nodded.

"Unlike normal wizarding libraries, it is accessed through an illusion. With the right item in hand, it can be accessed anywhere."

And that opened a lot of possibilities, didn't it.

Verde hummed. He would have to carefully consider how to approach the negotiations later, to receive as many benefits as possible without alienating the Nation.

In this situation, it was inevitable that the negotiations were split. He could only negotiate for compensation properly once the full extent of the screw-up was revealed. Thus, right now he could only argue for things necessary to get Leo to where he should've been without said screw-up.

Leo had not received any sort of education at all until this point… and while that may not leave him too far behind his non-magical peers, it did mean magical children his age had around 3 years' worth of learning on the child.

"Mou, you could also use this chance to create goodwill by hinting that most of your demands will be centered around Leo's future development. It would leave them more at ease knowing you don't plan to ruin them if they choose to agree to a few concessions. While they're a warrior race, they treat the ones who show them goodwill well in turn. We aren't actually planning on asking for a lot in the bigger scheme of things, and nothing of what we ARE asking will cost them anything but some time from only a selected few goblins. They don't even have to trust us, since secrecy oaths and magical contracts will be involved. The biggest hurdle here will be their pride."

Verde nodded, before getting up.

"Well, shall we go?"

Viper stared at him for a second, surprised that his friend would entrust him to come along for such an important family matter.

"Don't be so shocked. You know I trust you and you'll be an integral part of Leo's development. Plus, you are way more experienced in negotiations than me."

'I consider you part of the family already,' Yeah, there was no way Verde could say something cheesy like that out loud… Letting his actions speak for him was more his style.

Viper got it though. They tightly balled their hands into fists under the table. They had known, of course, that Verde trusted them to a degree and had thus shown the other trust in turn, the only way they had known how.

Viper… had never had a family, as far as they could remember. Their poor upbringing had shaped their nature into a cunning and stingy person. They knew they weren't an easy person to like by any means. So… knowing to just what a degree Verde chose to include them in his life, in his FAMILY, not famiglia, but family!... It was startling.

They… had never felt like this before. Not even with the other Acrobaleno. They had thought that that kind of empty camaraderie would be the closest an egotistical cunning person like them could ever get to true family… Yet, here they were…

They quite liked this unknown feeling, they decided as they floated off their chair and joined Verde on his way to his usual departure room.

If Verde saw the small genuine smile on their face, he chose not to comment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I came with news!   
> I've recently adopted a puppy! She's super adorable... but also a lot of work. So, basically, this is a heads-up that writing may slow down once again. I still have some chapters of my other story prepared and just waiting to be proofread before posting, but there's no such thing for RoE, since I'm having increasing trouble putting the story that's in my head on paper right now. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my story. 
> 
> This is the first multi-chapter work I post here so if you feel there are things I should keep in mind please let me know. I'm not an experienced author, nor is English my first language, so please keep that in mind as you read. I appreciate any feedback I get and am happy I can improve my writing with your help.
> 
> The Rage of an Evans will be the first of (most likely) three in 'The Umigakure Founding Chronicles' series. The Naruto fandom will not play into things for quite some time however, I just wanted to let you know about that in advance.
> 
> I will post the chapters as I finish them. This means there is no particular release schedule. 
> 
> It's a work I've also posted on FFN previously so it may seem familiar. Seriously though, I sometimes take a long time between chapters but unless I explicitly say so, I'm still working on this fanfic!
> 
> As for the character tags, so as not to overwhelm things I decided to only add the ones relevant to the story within 10 chapters of the latest chapter. That way only the important ones are on there.
> 
> Cheers!


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